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City of God: These People Don't Even Know Where I Live.

‘City of God’ is a visceral film, shot in the slums of Brazil with inexperienced actors many of whom were actual residents of the violence-ridden Cidade de Deus favela. The one scene that remains stuck in my head from this film is when a little boy, no older than 4 years old is shot in the foot by a teenage gangster, Lil Ze. As Lil Ze presents the boy with the choice of being shot in the foot or hand, the camera slowly pans up from the ground, pauses briefly at the child’s quivering, slightly swollen stomach, and then comes to rest on his terrified face, his cheeks smudged with the spoils of his afternoon heist.

Felipe Paulino played the role of that little boy, and once the film was over, it's one time 4,500$ payment spent, Paulino’s life went back to being like that of thousands of other children in the favelas of Brazil. Trapped in a cycle of poverty, gang violence, and drugs with very few opportunities for a way out.

In 2012, when directors Cavi Borges and Luciano Vidigal set out to film ‘City of God: 10 Years Later’, they brought together many members of the film’s cast. Felipe Paulino was found working as an apprentice bellboy at a fancy hotel in the city, the same hotel where his co-star Seu Jorge would stay when attending award ceremonies or performing.

When I first watched ‘The City of God’, I fell in love with how well made the film was, on further research I found out about its indigenous cast which I thought was pretty cool because it meant that all these children who had grown up in that violence would have opportunities to get out of it. However, after watching ‘10 Years Later, I was left feeling incredibly hollow and dejected.

It made me reflect on all the other documentaries and films shot in conflict zones, refugee camps, etc., which tell the stories of the people there. How often do the ‘subjects’ of these films which go on to get Oscar nominations actually benefit from sharing their stories? What impact do these films and documentaries have in changing these people's lives, or initiating state/international community action?

They may change the lives of 1-2 people, but what about thousands of other people who have the same stories, but no hopes of ever being able to see them change for the better.

If it is the scene of Felipe getting shot in the foot that remains with me after watching ‘City of God’, what I can never forget from ‘10 Years Later’ is when Alexandre Rodrigues (Buscape), shares how after he came back from all the luxury car rides and red carpets of Cannes, he was lying in bed in the room he shared with his mother and sister while it rained outside. As the rain dripped through a crack in the ceiling and onto his face, he recalled everything he had experienced in Cannes and then thought, “These people don’t even know where I live. This is it! Look at my house, look at how I live.” Then he started to cry.

I think both ‘City of God’ and ‘City of God: Ten Years Later’ are important films to watch and read up on to consider if films and documentaries made by outsiders on conflict zones have any positive impact on the lives of people within them, especially young children.

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6 Comments


Well written; you've made such an important point. Hollywood and movie industries around the globe are sustained on exploitation - whether that is implicit such as exploitation of minorities via mass cultural appropriation, or explicit such as in the cases you mention.

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The City Of God is a powerful movie about urban conflict and perhaps one of my favourite movies of all time. I think everyone should take the time to watch this film as it does what every great film is supposed to; it makes you think. I first watched it when I was 13 or 14 and I remember thinking; is this what the world is like? Seeing children my age taking part in serious gang conflict was something I had never come across in media before. I wil definitely be watching the 10 years after documentary for this. I've always put it off because of a sense of foreboding, I want to preserve the memory of this movie as…

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Seemal Aamir
May 06, 2021

I have heard a lot on this but sadly it is something that never gets attention. We are currently in a world where everyone is just valuing others through a profit and loss equation. No one really feels how there actions will effect others and their emotion. It makes me wonder sometimes, why we even have movies on real life tragedies. It would have been totally okay if they were made for awareness purposes only but sadly most of them are made to grab higher ratings.

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22110032
May 04, 2021

This one broke my heart, because I never realised this. I never realized that people may use "wanting to tell someone else's story" as a guise for a profit-making machine. I have an incredibly stupid example which I am reminded of - I was watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians (lol) and I remember an episode where two of the sisters gave a homeless man a makeover. After that, I was really curious what came of him and after a lot of research, some people claimed he was still homeless, still sleeping on the street. I know this is nowhere near as horrifying as the situation in conflict-ridden zones, but it was the only example in my mind I could…

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22100103
May 02, 2021

This really made me think about a lot of other such movies where the subjects of the story are never paid properly and are just exploited for the sake of attention. Moreover, this also extends to a lot of TV shows an music videos where the directors/producers treat such actors as just one time props who do not receive any credit or attention later on.

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