Displaying all 2 Review

• CIdade de Deus (City of God) — for Cidade de Deus
  Written by kah on 14.06.2009

  O filme começa na década de 1960, quando os protagonistas Zé Pequeno, então apelidado "Dadinho", e Bené são pequenos deliqüentes na recém-fundada comunidade de Cidade de Deus, construída pelo governo do Estado da Guanabara, como parte da política de remoção de favelas.

  Na década de 1970, os antigos amigos assumem o comando do tráfico de drogas na comunidade, que agora está ainda mais empobrecida e violenta. Os dois estabelecem prioridades bastante diferentes em suas vidas. O conflito entre o bando de Zé Pequeno contra o único foco de resistência ao seu controle total da Cidade de Deus, a área controlada pelo bando de Sandro "Cenoura", acirra-se quando morre Bené, que protegia "Cenoura" devido à antiga amizade entre os dois, e deixa o caminho livre para que Zé Pequeno desencadeie uma verdadeira guerra pela hegemonia do comando do crime no local.

  Todo o drama é contado a partir do ponto de vista de Buscapé, um garoto pobre da comunidade que sonha em ser repórter fotográfico e resiste à tentação de entregar-se ao aparentemente mais fácil caminho da criminalidade.

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  Taking place over the course of over two decades, City of God tells the story of Cidade de Deus (Portuguese for City of God), a lower class quarter west of Rio de Janeiro. The film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket (Busca pé in Portuguese) who grows up there as a fishmonger's son, and demonstrates the desperation and violence inherent in the slums. Based on a real story, the movie depicts drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy's struggle to free himself from the slums' grasp.

  The movie begins cinematically depicting chickens being prepared for a meal. A chicken escapes and an armed gang chases after it, they consequently bump into Rocket who believes that the gang wants to kill him. The movie then flashes back ten years earlier, to tell the story of how he got himself into that position.

  Three "hoodlums", "The Tender Trio", one being Rocket's brother, Goose, are terrorizing local businesses with armed holdups. In Robin Hood fashion, they split part of the loot with the citizens of City of God and are protected by them. Li'l Dice is a hanger-on who convinces them to hold up a motel and rob its occupants. Li'l Dice ("Dadinho" in Portuguese), serving as lookout, fires a warning shot, then proceeds to slaughter the inhabitants. The massacre brings on the attention of the police, forcing the three to quit their criminal ways. Two meet an untimely end, but one decides to join the church. Goose, Rocket's brother, is slain by Li'l Dice after robbing the younger boy and his friend Benny who both have been hiding out and committing crimes themselves.

• The Reader — for The Reader
  Written by kah on 05.07.2009

  The story is told in three parts by the main character, Michael Berg. Each part takes place in a different time period in the past.

  Part I begins in a West German city in 1958. After 15-year-old Michael becomes ill on his way home, 36-year-old tram conductress Hanna Schmitz notices him, cleans him up, and sees him safely on his way home. He spends the next several months absent from school battling hepatitis.

  He visits Hanna to thank her for her help and realizes he is attracted to her. Embarrassed after she catches him watching her getting dressed, he runs away, but he returns days later. After she directs him to retrieve coal from the cellar, he is covered with coal dust. She watches him bathe and seduces him. He returns eagerly to her apartment on a regular basis, and begins a heated affair. They develop a ritual of bathing and having sex, before which she frequently has him read aloud to her, especially classical literature, such as The Odyssey and Chekhov's The Lady with the Dog. Both remain somewhat distant from each other emotionally despite their physical closeness. Hanna, wrestling with her own guilt, is at times physically and verbally abusive to Michael.

  Months later, Hanna suddenly leaves without a trace. The distance between them had been growing as Michael had been spending more time with his school friends. He feels guilty and believes it was something he did that caused her departure. The memory of Hanna taints all his other relationships with women.