City of God The movie “City of God” is a very interesting story, based on a true story in Brazil in the city of Rio de Janeiro. There are two young men growing up in a very poor neighborhood, one young man is named “Rocket” which he is a photographer who takes pictures of what is going on in his town, crime, drugs, gang violence, etc. He wants to become to the most famous photographer in the world. The other young man is named Ze Pequeno, he is a drug dealer, who tries to become the infamous drug dealer in Rio de Janeiro.
It shows how Ze Pequeno a drug crime lord will anything to let people know that no one will stand in his way. It takes place in the 1970’s. Both of the young men will do anything to tell the world about their life. Rocket tries to photograph what is going on in the fight between the two crime wars. Benny is Ze’s brother who tries to calm him down. Rocket wants to show the world what is going on in his community, he wants to help, he wants them to stop and live in peace. This is like a mini war going on in the community.
Stojkovski 2 The Character that caught my interest in “City of God” is Ze Pequeno, he is interesting and an evil mastermind to me because he reminds me somewhat of Pablo Escobar the most infamous Latin American drug lord in history. Ze Pequeno has the almost has the same background story as Pablo Escobar, they both grew up in a poor neighborhood in Latin America, they both wanted to be the best of the best, and they both had a sick oppression of killing the people who did not obey their order, they enjoyed killing people for their entertainment.
This movie is based on a true story, me wanted to go into drug related police work teaches me a lot how drug dealers or even how drug lords work, this character teaches me how to think a drug dealer in a weird way. Ze Pequeno is a drug dealer, he was a very bad person, in the city of Rio de Janerio, and he terrorized the people living in it. At such a young age he was very powerful, his mission was to destroy other drug gangs who stood in his way, and he wanted to be the very best in Rio de Janeiro.
This is he reminds me of Pablo Escobar, he became very rich, he used his money to bribe the police officers to look the other way. Pablo Escobar did the same thing, but instead of the police he bribed the people, the police, and the Columbian army. Stojkovski 3 Pablo Escobar bribed the whole country of Colombia. Just like Pablo Escobar, Ze Pequeno is a twisted drug dealer, filled with pure evil, and killed anyone who got in his way. Ze Pequeno was not as powerful as Pablo Escobar though. The movie “City of God” takes place in Brazil, in the city of Rio de Janerio.
It is located by the Atlantic Ocean, surround by beautiful green mountains with the giant statue of Jesus Christ on one of the mountains, which is an iconic symbol of the city. A huge tourist hot spot, when people go to Brazil they go Rio de Janerio. It is one of the most visited cities in the southern hemisphere. This leads to a high crime rate. More people, more money, and more everything. Most people see a beautiful city, but what is going on in those little shady towns is corruption, drug trafficking, prostitution, a lot of illegal action is taking place.
The people are poor, desperate to make money, so they have to do something. The best way to make money in the situation those people are in is to sell drugs, and become a crime, lord. The society is filled with corruption, the police officers in the city are being bribed to look the other way, Ze is killing people, those people have families, but the police officers are being paid a lot of money to dismiss the case, and those families with their loved one who was killed won’t get justice.
This is unfortunate because in the movie takes place in the 1970’s, but it is still going on in current day Rio de Janerio, the crime rate is still going up, Latin America, in general, is filled with corruption. Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, Central America, all these places have very high crime rates because of narcotics. The bestselling item coming from any country in Latin America is drugs, drugs are always going to be in high demand, and the war on drugs is a never ending battle. The government tries to end the tries to end the corruption, but those police officers are getting paid quite a bit of money.
The main problem in Latin America that this is portraying is multiple things, corruption, narcotics, and gang violence. Corruption causes people to lose hope in their law enforcement, they have no protection, and even the government is taking the bribe from certain people. Narcotics is another issue, people are getting addicted to a certain drug, mainly cocaine, destroying people’s lives, and also killing them, and gang violence which some poor people have no choice, they are poor and they want to make money, so the choice is to become part of a gang and do whatever the person has to do to make money.
These issues going on in certain Latin American countries are not new to me, going into criminal justice the first thing I have learned about is where do most drugs Stojkovski 5 come from Latin America. Certain Latin America, most of the world’s cocaine comes from countries from Latin America. It is sad what people my age have to do in Rio de Janerio, their killing people just trying to eat. They have to worry if they are going to go home at the end of the day.
They grew up in a poor community, they don’t see any way to get rich, the only way they see themselves getting some cash in their pocket is to join a gang and sell drugs. The movie “City of God” can interact with all kinds of people’s emotion, sad, happy, etc. This movie is based on a true story. It showed the very difficult living condition’s the people have to live in, no air condition in a hot environment, barely any electricity, no cell phone, a poor government system, a poor lifestyle. The young men around my age what they have to do, it is never crossed my mind.
These men have to worry if they’re going to get robbed, beaten, or even killed. They do not have a good education it seems, these men don’t even think about going to college, Rocket wanted to be a well-known photographer, he didn’t a have chance to college because of the education system. These men don’t know too much. Ze was a very young man when he stated to kill. He was killing people for entertainment, people in the United States don’t really do that. Nothing is scarier than a child with a weapon, I believe it’s scary than a grown man
Stojkovski 6 with a weapon because the child’s brain is still growing, he is still learning, so while he doing this, he’s learning to kill. He does not better, he thought it was a game it seemed. Sadly a lot of these young men died a terrible death most of them never had a chance to live a full life, never have a family. They never had to chance to become a father figure. In the community they lived in, they never had a chance to live a good life. They live in a poor community, so running a gang and killing people was fun to them until it got them killed.
I enjoyed this movie, it showed how some people take what they have for granted. Watching this movie made me think a lot, I take a lot for I have in life for granted. I have a very good education, I am majoring in criminal justice, I am very happy. I have a very wonderful family I can come home to, I have a nice home to go to at the end of the day. The police officers here do care about the people and most of the police officers won’t take a bribe. This movie made me think a lot, I enjoyed this movie and would recommend to a family member or a friend.