City of God(notes)

Please read and summarize the article on Portrayal of Violence in City of God.

Pay attention to the references of filmic technique/theory the author uses to validate her claims: Narrative, Cinematography, Edit, Genre, etc.

Include a minimum of 5 quotes with rationale/commentary for selection.

I. Notes (how the story is told )

A. Narrative

“The film places the viewer in a removed spectatorship, suggesting a sense of

omniscience and control which proves, in the end, false.”

1. touches base with multiple narratives such as Psycho, Vantage Point. Rocket, is the observer in the favela and he sees his perception of the events that took place in the city of god, brazil. this is signifgant because it adds to the suspsense and how the audience feels that the storyline is swaying to a certain way but is inevitibly going in another direction.

2. emphasizing threats/problems in Brazil (corruption, gangs, drugs)

B.Cinematography (shots/scene/setting)

the film uses mainly amateur actors, location shooting, and

handheld camera work to convey a sense of realism.

Meirelles has discussed the film as a criticism not only of

Brazilian society, but global economic forces, saying that

"no country is as unfair as the world itself."

1.A step away from large Holywood productions in order to capture the essence and struggles of the people of the city of god. As far as realism is concerned the film does well to incorporate conventions and techniques execute in Realism. ( look on mr. bigue’s site for help)

C.Edit (background history on edit)

“The audience sees bodies falling, or lying on the ground, but

the editing is rapid and generally cuts immediately away.

The audience doesn't see the blood or tearing of flesh that

we assume must accompany events. “

What truly makes the film a work of art is how much a message is conveyed, or implied without the direct correlation through shots. There are times in the story where it would have been nice to see it, but the fact is because we didn’t see it leaves much more room for assumption and interpretation. Often having the audience using their own perceptions to pull the pieces together. one scene was the rape scene, which was executed as not too distasteful but a pivoting moment in the plot.

“The editing of the sequence suggests not

only that Rocket survives by 'shooting' the others, but that

he is directly responsible for the deaths of those shot by

real bullets“

Covers the idea of responsibility and bystanderism. the shooting is meaningful of taking the photos instead of not actually helping people. He is responsible of the death because he chooses to use the photos as a way of branching out in his journalism career. Exploiting the gang, and using them but ultimately had he got involved he would have suffered the same fate as most of the gang members.

D. Genre (conventions/ unique/ why / attacking topics like)

“ Brazil's contemporary national cinema frequently deals with an

"…urban reality that is centered in the concept of the 'taken

for granted' violence that comes out of a predatory

capitalism and so becomes a spectacle."

In other words, it talks about the violence and loss of innocence through developments in capitalism. the irony of how the society at the time deals with the beautiful country of Brazil paved in success, but within it are these villages with hovels and a large majority live here.