City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. The story was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, but the characters are not fictitious and the plot is based upon real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and criminal Knockout Ned. The tagline is "If you run, the beast catches; if you stay, the beast eats", (a proverb analogous to the English "Damned if you do, damned if you don't").
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The cast includes Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Jonathan Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Alice Braga and Seu Jorge. Most of the actors were, in fact, residents of favelas such as Vidigal and the Cidade de Deus itself.
City of God received four Academy Award nominations in 2004: Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Directing (Meirelles), Best Editing (Daniel Rezende) and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mantovani). Before that, in 2003 it had been chosen to be Brazil's runner for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated to be one of the five finalists.
Meirelles and Lund went on to create the City of Men TV series and film City of Men, which share some of the actors (notably leads Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha) and their setting with City of God.
Story: Brazil, 1960's, City of God. The Tender Trio robs motels and gas trucks. Younger kids watch and learn well...too well. 1970's: Li'l Zé has prospered very well and owns the city. He causes violence and fear as he wipes out rival gangs without mercy. His best friend Bené is the only one to keep him on the good side of sanity. Rocket has watched these two gain power for years, and he wants no part of it. Yet he keeps getting swept up in the madness. All he wants to do is take pictures. 1980's: Things are out of control between the last two remaining gangs...will it ever end? Welcome to the City of God.
City of God
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
Kátia Lund (co-director)
Produced by Andrea Barata Ribeiro
Mauricio Andrade Ramos
Elisa Tolomelli
Walter Salles
Screenplay by Bráulio Mantovani
Based on City of God by
Paulo Lins
Starring Alexandre Rodrigues
Alice Braga
Leandro Firmino
Phellipe Haagensen
Douglas Silva
Jonathan Haagensen
Matheus Nachtergaele
Seu Jorge
Roberta Rodrigues
Graziella Moretto
Music by Ed Cortês
Antonio Pinto
Cinematography César Charlone
Editing by Daniel Rezende
Studio O2 Filmes
Globo Filmes
StudioCanal
Wild Bunch
Distributed by Miramax Films (US)
Buena Vista International
Release date(s)
18 May 2002 (Cannes)
30 August 2002 (Brazil)
12 March 2003 (France)
Running time 130 minutes
135 minutes (TIFF)
Country Brazil
Language Portuguese (Brazilian)
Budget R$8.5 million
Box office $30,641,770
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