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City of God: A Novel by Paulo Lins
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Paulo Lins Translator: Alison Entrekin Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2006-09-14 ISBN: 0802170102 Number of pages: 448 Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
Book Reviews of City of God: A NovelBook Review: Life in poverty is not for the faint of heart ... Summary: 5 Stars
For those who may think this is about St. Augustine's book, it's not. This movie is not for the faint of heart, so I well understand the 1 star reviewer who said his hand was trembling as he removed the DVD from his player. Slumdog Millionaire was a fairy tale while City of God is the real world of poverty where violence is brutal. FULL STOP. This film is for people who need or want to know.
During the time this movie was made there were 100,000 people involved in the drug trade in Rio. The City of Rio required 100,000 civil servants to run the city. The sole reason for the existence of the State (i.e., protection of the serfs) is taken over by the drug dealer (if you are in his good graces). Do you see what a government is competing with? As a result, the police in Rio are said to be the best trained urban street fighting outfit in the world because they have to operate like an army. How can there ever be enough money or police to stop the drug trade? Is it clear things have gotten out of control? And this is how it is all over the third world. So how did this happen? What do you do - you can't contain it within its favela walls? The job of the police is now to try to protect the neighborhoods of the rich and middle class. Is this the true state of capitalism with regard to rich and poor in most of the world? I fear City of God is just the tip of the iceberg.
Based on a true story, this movie is raw, unadulterated life in which people whose God is violence, sex, drugs or even a pair of Nikes are living and dying, where the family is the gang and manhood is proven in sadistic ways. Not being able to choose where you are born, how do you raise a child under these circumstances? If you are a missionary, how do you approach this place? How do you impart the wisdom of God to those who live by the wisdom of the world? Can you see how hard it is to save yourself? You have no bootstraps by which to pull yourself up if you have no boots. If as a viewer, you feel despair, how must it be for people who are raised in this beautiful place called hell who don't know they are living in hell but hell it is?
This is a groundbreaking film because it exposes everything naked before us, beautifully shot and acted by real children of the favelas. It is the place that should be envisioned when people want to practice their think tank-elitist theories on how to stop recruitment by Osama Bin Laden in the slums of Afghanistan or Pakistan or Palestine. Or how to continue a fight against drugs. Do the math. Understanding violence and its power is important by those of us who can't even dispose of a dead mouse in a mousetrap or who have never even seen one.
The film is based on a book of the same name. The director was given the book by a friend and told he needed to make this film. He said - I don't want to make a film about the favelas of Rio, but by page 100 he found himself making director's notes in the margin of the book. It is a great film and from a Christian perspective I believe despite the violence and cursing it is a must see film for anyone who wants to make a difference in the world or who is studying the human condition, including but not limited to diplomats, corporate CEOs, social scientists, social workers, cultural anthropologists, psychologists, criminal attorneys & missionaries. There is a documentary which accompanies this movie on the DVD which is excellent. City of God has a glimmer of hope with the
Summary of City of God: A NovelThe searing novel on which the internationally acclaimed hit film was based,City of Godis a gritty, gorgeous tour de force from one of Brazil?s most notorious slums. Cidade de Deus: a place where the streets are awash with narcotics, where violence can erupt at any moment over drugs, money, and love—but also a place where the samba beat rocks till dawn, where the women are the most beautiful on earth, and where one young man wants to escape his background and become a photographer. WhenCity of Goderupted on screens worldwide, it became one of the most critically and commercially successful foreign films of recent years. But few were aware of the story behind the film. Written by Paulo Lins, who grew up in the favela (shantytown) Cidade de Deus in Rio e Janeiro and who spent years researching its gang history,City of Godbegan life as a coruscating, harrowing novelistic account of twenty years in the illicit pursuits of the youth gangs born from the favela. Now available in English for the first time,City of Godis a raw, powerful portrait of the countless millions of poor people all over the world.
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