In the film City of God, how

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In the film City of God, how excessive is the violence; and how is this shown as a “way out” or escape?

The critically acclaimed City of God creates various questions to the audience, most prevalently whether violence is represented as a way out of the “Favela,” (city slums of Rio de Janeiro where the narrative takes place) and whether these representations that induce us to this question are excessively violent. In this movie there are also other underlying themes, such as the issue of violence breeding violence, and the representation of the Favela as an inescapable environment.

The theme of violence becomes apparent to the audience from the outset of the film, director “Meirelles opens with a stark image, a close-up of a knife sharpened on a whetting stone, and for the rest of the film, pretty much keeps us on that knife’s edge.” This description illustrates to us that violence is a key feature in the film from the outset, and as we are taken through Meirelles’ narrative violence is almost represented as normal, and acts as a backdrop to the city. The setting of the city is important as it is distinctly detached from almost all of the films audience, and this film has been described as a “faithful portrait” “of a real life death trap.” From this description it becomes apparent that the setting is vital to the plot and therefore to the justified or gratuitous violence, and there is widespread agreement that the violence in the setting is veritable to plot and is essential in showing a valid representation of the favela, “the favela has been described as the films chief ‘character,’ and as a location it is unglamorously real.” This quotation supports the views that brutal violence such as that depicted in the film is essential to understanding the environment in which it takes place.

This is demonstrated as the narrative continues; we are constantly bombarded with images of violence through the city as we are introduced to the characters by the main character, Rocket. The film begins when he is nine years old, and this narration continues with his “neutral” view on the gang warfare. The reason we are lead to deduce that Rockets view is neutral is because throughout the movie, Rocket is always distinctly detached from the violence, and this is shown to us almost from the outset; when even from the narration in his youth he clearly separates himself from the violence. Also, his career as a photographer for a reputable national newspaper also closely links him with the connotations of neutrality and impartiality. However, throughout this narrative, violence is almost assumed to be a natural backdrop to the Favela, this is demonstrated by the initial almost constant scenes of violence or gang like behaviour. From the initial scene, followed contiguously by the frantic sequence where gangs of children and teens chase a chicken through the city, armed and shooting aimlessly around with no regard for anything. This then leads up to a pivotal scene; a large gang lined up facing police; Rocket stood in the middle. This is yet another reason why we regard Rocket as neutral, as through performance and technical codes of his demographics and his nervy behaviour, Rocket is shown to be detached from the gangs and the police, leaving him in a position to give us an impartial view on the affairs.

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Another reason that the backdrop to this movie is violence is shown by the complex narrative solely focused on violent crime. The only reason characters bear any relevance in the city is through their criminality or violent behaviour. This is excellently shown by the “character profiles” given to us by Rocket, and these are further highlighted by the technical codes of a still shot of the character accompanied by a tagline of their name. Although some argue that the representation and depiction of violence is necessary in maintaining the verity of the plot, others feel that this backdrop of violence ...

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