Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.

Really good movie about a favela-ish neighborhood in Rio, and the drug trade as an industry there, the culture of youth violence, and a big ass gang war in a hood that has no police.

If you haven't seen City of God, it is definitely worth your time.

Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.

Jello wrote:

Really good movie about a favela-ish neighborhood in Rio, and the drug trade as an industry there, the culture of youth violence, and a big ass gang war in a hood that has no police.

You'll note this film is presently #17 on the IMDB top 250. This puts it ahead of such classics as Dr. Strangelove, Citizen Kane, North by Northwest, Once Upon a Time in the West, Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Chinatown, and much more. In fact, everything except for, well, 16 films, and of those, only two were released in the last ten years.

Roger Ebert says:

The film has been compared with Scorsese's "GoodFellas," and it deserves the comparison.

Stephen Holden of NYT says:

"City of God" conveys the authenticity of a cinéma vérité scrapbook. Cesar Charlone's restless cinematography is a flashy potpourri of effects that include slow and accelerated motion, the use of split screens and a dramatically varied expressionistic palette.