City Of Men (DVD)

City of Men follows on from the excellent City of God as we return to the violence of the Rio favellas and the drug and gang culture that is a fact of life for the residents of this city of the haves and the have nots. Unfortunately this offerring fails to deliver the same intensity and gritty reality that the first film did and there is a sense of deja vu about the film as the young age of the gun toting gangsters fails to shock anymore, after all we can see similar aged children brandishing weapons in some of our own sink estates. Cast List Douglas Silva ... Acerola Darlan Cunha ... Laranjinha Jonathan Haagensen ... Madrugadão ...  Read the complete review

So, City of Men, the film of version of the popular Brazilian TV series by the same name, which, of course, spun off the multi-award wining City of God movie, coming full circle here with the sequel. The characters that survived the gang wars of the TV series featuring prominently here, and all grown up from the 2003 film. The gang wars are still raging in the vibrant bustling favelas, alive with love and bullets, but the life expectancy still pretty low for black Brazilians in the worlds most ethnically divided city, the real message from director Paulo Morelli in his work. Brazil actually has the worlds 8th biggest economy but 70% unemployment, and when ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears on Flixster and The Student Room City of God was a Brazillian film in 2002 that sent shockwaves across the world - its gritty depiction of the abject poverty and utterly depraved situations that people have to endure opened the eyes of many to this plight. It also resulted in a TV series, also called City of Men, being comissioned for Brazillian TV in 2004. It lasted for four seasons, and then a film based on the series was made. The film depicts the lives of Acerola and Laranjinha, two friends who live in the shanty towns, known in Brazil as "favelas", of Rio de Janeiro. They are contending with life, love, happiness, ...  Read the complete review