Here’s a random article: http://brianair.wordpress.com/film-analysis/city-of-god/
Here’s a random summary:
After summarizing the complicated plot of City of God, the writer of the article presents numerous different theories that could be used to interpret the film. He talks about montage editing, the use of a homodiegetic narrator (Rocket), along with others, and discusses how it applies to the film. Some of the theories mentioned include Todorov’s Theory of equilibrium, “of an equilibrium, followed by a disequilibrium, then a new equilibrium”. Among others mentioned were Roland Barthe’s theories of action and enigma (L’il Ze’s massacre) and Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites (the slums and mainstream Rio), to name a few.
The next section talks about the main characters and what they represent within the film. Rocket represents a middle ground between good and evil, and of escape, while on the other hand L’il Ze symbolizes hopelessness with his crimes. The writer goes on to discuss the roles of Bene, Carrot, the Tender Trio, and the women in City of God.
The last section discusses the ideology of the film, “the wish for social change”, which is expressed through the violence that permeates the slums of Rio and corrupts its people. The film ends on a positive note but also with a negative one, with the younger children taking up the mantle of violence. The writer concludes the piece with a mention of how the film became so popular, first through the film festivals and then through Miramax.
Out of all of the things discussed in the article, what I find most relevant to the research I am doing is the role of violence and crime, especially within the cities. Also important were the numerous film theories used to describe the film, which I can imagine will become useful when comparing City of God to a second film.
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