City of God

Inspired by my previous posting, I watched the commercial/narrative film City of God having heard so much about it being along the same vein as my interpretation of film being an avenue for impressionism. The film takes place in a shanty town called Cidade de Deus (city of god) just outside Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It is the first commercial film (that I have watched) to have serious contendership in being considered an "ethnographic film." Using the same tactics as Robert Gardner, the director constantly and colorfully displays swatches of everyday life, glimpses into the struggles and banalities of the comings and goings of the citizens of City of God. I use the term "swatches" purposefully, as they are made up of vibrant iconographic hues, splayed out and then focused on when the timing corresponds to the place in Rocket's story. The visuals include vast amounts of dust and smoke, serrated by the slowing down or the speeding up of time, gleaming beads of sweat highlighted by the sunshine, and a constant menagerie of citizens of all ages, exchanging gunfire with blood spatter. It is a dizzying array of sights and sounds that make you feel like you can smell the violence in the air. It is hyper phenomenological; Robert Gardner has no interest in the "unvarnished" reality of life, rather, "I have always been interested in indicating things by suggestion rather than direct statement... Perhaps my tendencies arise from an interest in, among other things, surrealism" (Barbash 94).

The film is narrated by Rocket, a slum child grown up in Cidade de Deus, an interesting character as he provides an "ethnographic" emic/etic perspective of life. He manages to be centrally located in the cast of widely varied characters, yet somehow remains peripheral and almost objective to the calamities of the narrative. The narrative unfolds in a non-linear fashion, it is being thread together for us by Rocket, and moves according to his logic. Rocket is not without fault, he does drugs, is often motivated by sex and jealousy, however is the most clearly defined protagonist in the film. For an audience, Rocket's life is a vignette, a pinhole into the world in which he's enmeshed.

Coincidentally, I day or so after watching City of God, my friend insisted upon watching the Steve Martin film, L.A. Story. Having always been a Martin fan, and having grown up in Los Angeles, I agreed. Midway through the self-deprecating comedic romp, I made a joke about how L.A. Story matched up to City of God. I mean, Los Angeles is known as the "City of Angels" and both goals of the film were to give the impressions of the title city. After having a laugh about it, I recalled more parallels, including the structure of a first person narrative, "guiding" the audience asynchronously through their personal vignettes, and furthermore how the city had affected their journey's. The similarities of the structural tactics are uncanny, as each film seeks to highlight the most depraved behaviors, (stereo)typical to each place. The difference, of course, being that the situation in City of God is tragic, and includes life or death stakes, while Los Angeles might very well be tragically egocentric and shallow, the stakes involved are clearly non-mortality related.

cheers

Barbash, Ilisa. 2001. "Out of Words." ed. Taylor and Barbash. The Cinema of Robert Gardner. Berg:Oxford.

City of God, Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles, 2002)
L.A. Story (Mick Jackson, 1991)