The 20 best movies of 2002
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Credit: Miramax
20 years of ‘City of God’: Fernando Meirelles’ Hollywood-inspired thriller
Few South American movies have been able to break the barrier of western popularity, with the likes of Alejandro González-Iñárritu, Pablo Larraín and Alfonso Cuarón having to take their careers to Hollywood to find considerable success. Fernando Meirelles was another such filmmaker to make this decision, though, despite taking to America and making an Oscar-winning film in the process, no film has ever reached similar levels of commercial success as his 2002 classic, City of God.
Deviating from traditional Brazilian filmmaking and the ‘third cinema’ movement that emerged throughout the 1960s, which pushed away the commercial ideals of Hollywood filmmaking, City of God abandoned its roots to seize a market beyond the continent. Delving into the ramshackle world of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Meirelles’ thrilling drama tells the story of several characters trying to escape from the cycle of poverty and violence that plagues the land.
Its Hollywood influences come flying in the film’s opening sequence as Meirelles contradicts the traditional Brazilian setting with a flashy aesthetic of stylistic camera angles and profound golden lighting. Creating an idealistic view of the Brazilian favelas that glamorises its fast pace and gun-wielding crime, the film was denounced by many across the country who disliked the film for abandoning national cinematic ideals.
Described as Latin-Americas’ answer to Martin Scorsese upon its release, the film indeed shares a resemblance with the director’s 1990 crime classic, Goodfellas, using similar sweeping panning shots and snappy editing in a way in which to appeal to American audiences. Such was also present in the film’s accessible storytelling features, aiming toward sensationalism and romanticism as it embraced American filmmaking methods.
Presenting its narrative like a storybook made up of multiple chapters, Meirelles separates the film into manageable chunks, making it easy for mainstream audiences to keep up with the fast pace and subtitled dialogue. Though whilst it was criticised for its flashy aesthetics, the film remains a questioning analysis of the structures of power, race and class across the country, inviting the world to see the state of Brazilian poverty.
To convey the message of his sharp classic to a worldwide audience, Fernando Meirelles employs a Hollywood aesthetic to broaden the scope of City of God, without sacrificing the story or subtext. Truly, this is the film’s greatest strength, as, whilst Meirelles feels like one of the fieriest dramas of the 21st century filled with authentic characters and set-pieces, it is also one layered with real-life debate and cinematic conversation.
Fueled with the very same cinematic vigour that propelled the likes of Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction into the western zeitgeist, City of God remains a creative and astute piece of South American filmmaking 20 years on. Refusing to wilt under the volatile industry style that was rapidly changing the industry in the early 2000s, Meirelles’ 2002 classic may remain his greatest movie to date.
City of God infused Brazilian ideals with a flourishing Hollywood aesthetic, demonstrating the frenetic possibilities of independent foreign cinema with a hyperactive low-budget masterpiece that radiates passionate intensity.
