The film version of "Cidade dos Homens" (City of Men) as compared to it's precursor "City of God" is a bit more watered down and straightforward. It's camera movements aren't as chaotic and feverish. On the other hand, "City of Men" does not carry the same over-arching social analysis that City of God did. It uses the fact that we've already been introduced to the characters as a jumping off point for the more plot oriented structure of the film. By doing this, the lives of Acerola and Laranjinha become the central focus and the social context, still somewhat apparent in the story, falls more to the wayside.
It feels as if "Cidade dos Homens" goes beyond the stereotype surrounding the personalities, paths, etc. of young males within the favelas. Acerola and Laranjinha are good kids. They stray away from the "gangsta" influence of their neighborhood. They are looking for an honest way out of their current situation. The only slip up in the film, that is the part that appears to break from this mature, honest view on two kids in the favelas is when Acerola puts a gun to Larajinha's head. The moment is false, considering all that they had experienced together from the television mini-series. The moment is false, dramatically stereotypical.
Cidade dos Homens, to me, is a studio's next logical step after the success of a film like Cidade de Deus. Photographically, it's much more tame, much more 'lit,' much less risky. The delicious factor intertwined with Cidade de Deus is that it's based on real, sumptuous fact and aided by buckets upon buckets of research. Dos Homens, while perhaps a reflection of Favela life, is not an adaptation of real goings-on, however similar it may be to real life circumstances, and carries the familiar scent of a well-scrutinized script. Perhaps, as Morgan mentioned, it lacks the social analysis of its bigger brother because it's based entirely in fiction. Because of this, I feel that Dos Homens can be comfortably categorized as a stereotype-- in that it takes familiar happenings, circumstances, and boils them down into an entertaining sequence of events for viewers. Is it entirely negative stereotyping? Perhaps not-- but I felt pretty insulted when Acerola has his standoff with Laranjinha at the film's floppy climax. I don't know. To boil it down, yeah, the film is a stereotype, just as much as Truffaut's "Blows" was a common stereotype of moody french adolescents-- significantly generic in its specificity, but not altogether inaccurate or insulting. .
Stereotype?
4 comments:
The film version of "Cidade dos Homens" (City of Men) as compared to it's precursor "City of God" is a bit more watered down and straightforward. It's camera movements aren't as chaotic and feverish. On the other hand, "City of Men" does not carry the same over-arching social analysis that City of God did. It uses the fact that we've already been introduced to the characters as a jumping off point for the more plot oriented structure of the film. By doing this, the lives of Acerola and Laranjinha become the central focus and the social context, still somewhat apparent in the story, falls more to the wayside.
On the other hand, "City of God"s approach still dealt with a central character, Buscapé, but also looked into the lives of various secondary characters that lived in the favela. By creating jarring flashbacks within flashbacks and linking characters through a long chain their interactions- "City of God" fosters a more in depth look into the essence of the favela. On an Anthropological and cultural level, it is a more effective film and therefore, I believe, the better. "City of Men" provides for a more dramatic cap to the end of a popular television series. It is still a very entertaining film, but does not have the same thematic sting as Fernando Meirelles' film.
It feels as if "Cidade dos Homens" goes beyond the stereotype surrounding the personalities, paths, etc. of young males within the favelas. Acerola and Laranjinha are good kids. They stray away from the "gangsta" influence of their neighborhood. They are looking for an honest way out of their current situation. The only slip up in the film, that is the part that appears to break from this mature, honest view on two kids in the favelas is when Acerola puts a gun to Larajinha's head. The moment is false, considering all that they had experienced together from the television mini-series. The moment is false, dramatically stereotypical.
Cidade dos Homens, to me, is a studio's next logical step after the success of a film like Cidade de Deus. Photographically, it's much more tame, much more 'lit,' much less risky. The delicious factor intertwined with Cidade de Deus is that it's based on real, sumptuous fact and aided by buckets upon buckets of research. Dos Homens, while perhaps a reflection of Favela life, is not an adaptation of real goings-on, however similar it may be to real life circumstances, and carries the familiar scent of a well-scrutinized script. Perhaps, as Morgan mentioned, it lacks the social analysis of its bigger brother because it's based entirely in fiction. Because of this, I feel that Dos Homens can be comfortably categorized as a stereotype-- in that it takes familiar happenings, circumstances, and boils them down into an entertaining sequence of events for viewers. Is it entirely negative stereotyping? Perhaps not-- but I felt pretty insulted when Acerola has his standoff with Laranjinha at the film's floppy climax. I don't know. To boil it down, yeah, the film is a stereotype, just as much as Truffaut's "Blows" was a common stereotype of moody french adolescents-- significantly generic in its specificity, but not altogether inaccurate or insulting. .
That last one is strittmatter's, by the way.
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