City of Men

Dir: Paulo Morelli

2007

****

Following on from the success of Fernando Meirelles’ City of God, a television series titled City of Men was commissioned and ran for four seasons in Brazil to critical acclaim. The film City of Men is the film version of the television series and not really a sequel to the original film, which was assumed by most viewers. The story follows best friends Acerola and Laranjinha (Known as Ace and Wallace), who are the main characters of the TV series (played by the same actors), live in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and have been raised without their fathers. They are turning eighteen as a war between rival drug gangs begins around them. Wallace, with Ace's help, searches and finally finds his father, a parolee living not very far away. With fatherhood, a drug war, a dangerous romance and a gang member in hiding effecting their lives (as well as dodging bullets on a daily basis), the best friends soon discover that their fathers were best friends, but Wallace’s father killed Ace's father in a robbery gone bad. Each discovers things about his missing father that could potentially comprise their solid friendship. It is quite a twist for those who had followed the series and characters from beginning to end. It’s a bit confusing for those that haven’t. The series grew from the Fernando Meirelles/Kátia Lund film, 'City of God,' which in turn was based on Paulo Lins' tumultuous and partly autobiographical novel about three decades in the slums and the involvement of youth as dealers, assassins, and victims. Actually the Ace/Wallace characters as young teenagers, always played by Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha, predate 'City of God' by two years; they appeared in a short film called 'Palace II' in 2000. The history of these films and stories is as intricate as the world they depict. Douglas Silva was also the prepubescent tough in 'City of God' known by he moniker Dadinho (Lil' Dice). Complicated, but the film’s message is clear and the film is easy enough to follow. This sepia sun-bleached feature is warmer and more intimate than the original film. While the original film was critically acclaimed and enjoyed globally, there were concerns that gangs were somehow glamorized and that the rise in such crimes actually increased. It's unfortunately true that in the ghettos of Rio, young gun-toting drug dealers are treated and regarded as superstars, not only feared but also respected. I feel that City of God perhaps showed us the true horror and made it infamous, and everything that has come after, the television show and the associated film, have been made as a direct form of responsibility. After all, all of the non-actors from the original film that actually lived in the favelas were found new and safer homes by the production team. Maybe the earlier film fails to take a sufficiently clear moral stand, or too much reflects the viewpoints of the young favela males it depicts. Nonetheless it's stunning film-making. It also has a more positive arc than City of Men, because its hero works his way out of the slums and into mainstream Rio de Janeiro to become a photojournalist. In City of Men, nothing like that happens. Instead, there is a difficult reconciliation between the two boys, on the brink of eighteen, despite a twist revelation regarding their lost fathers. Both of the boys endure moments of terrible loneliness and isolation, which reveal how isolating the world of the favelas can be, but the focus is on the reconciliations. The message of fatherhood comes through clearest and most important. It is a more tender, individual and mature story than City of God and is less specific and less witty than the television series. It works as a kind of antidote to the matter-of-fact amorality one feels in City of God, and its warmth is touching. It doesn’t quite have the momentum or adrenaline-rush that City of God has and I would argue that it isn’t as visually pleasing as the first, but it feels like a logical progression, after the impact of the original. It’s a very different beast that improves on the story but still isn’t quite the tour de force that the 2002 was. A look at the characters and life in the favelas decades later would be an interesting idea but as it stands, City of God and City of Men are two similar but different (but both authentic) slices of a time and a place that have earned their places as two of the decades most important and impressive films.