[natalia]

Finally saw "City of God" last night. What a brutal, brutal movie. I've read the comparison's between this movie and Goodfellas. There are some strong similarities for sure, but the moral centers of the two movies are fundamentally different. In Goodfellas, Henry Hill has always wanted to be a gangster, as far back as he can remember. There's a certain manic fervor in the way his story gets told by Scorcese.

Rocket, in City of God, on the other hand never wants to be a hood. He thinks it sucks to have a brother as a hood. But in this movie, if you live in the City of God (where even the corrupt police fear to go), whether you fight or whether you run, you're screwed from the get go. So many of the characters get sucked into a whirlwind of poverty and brutal violence despite wanting nothing to do with it.

Some of the scenes were almost too much for me to take, especially the scenes with the children. I thought it was amazing that many of the actors were amateurs from the slums of Rio. The child actor who played Li'l Dice with near expressionless malice and glee in some scenes was especially affecting.