Cidade De Dues

The movie Cidade De Dues, or The City of God was a really great movie directed by Fernando Meirelles. The imagery of the slums in the city, the power of the killings that took place over and over again, mixed with the shock of seeing young kids, some no older that what appeared to be 8-10 years old, created a movie that was difficult to watch and yet difficult to look away from. Part of what made the movie so riveting, was the directors generous use of flashbacks, that constantly kept the viewer on the edge of their seats trying to figure out exactly what order the events were taking place in. In his review, Stephen M. Hart, wrote that, “One other point ought to be made about the flashbacks and this concerns the point at which they re-connect with the narrative proper which, as it were, had halted in order for the past sequence to be ‘remembered’ by the film’s consciousness.”(Cidade De Deus 209) By constantly going from the past to the present and vice versa, Meirelles created a movie that told a complete story that tied what seemed to be a number of loose elements into a one clear storyline.

Within that story, Meirelles addressed many of the issues that were facing the Latin American countries around the time of the seventies. One can see the rise in a sort of sub-culture that the Brazilians were experiencing, by the groups that the different young people were dividing themselves into. Most notably the young group of “Groovies” that the young Rocket found himself a part of. The movie depicts, around the midpoint of the movie, the hard times that the younger generations found themselves struggling in. A good example, since the movie is seen through the eyes of Rocket, is how he hated his job at the supermarket, but that he refused to quit and wanted to be laid off so he could collect his severance. Because of these tough times, the drug use in the ghettos continued to climb, which paved the way for a huge increase in drug trafficking. Likewise, it made the buying and selling of drugs way more lucrative of a business for guys like lil dice and Carrot. All that the movie depicted about the rise of the drug use and the increasing wealth and power of the drug dealers themselves is well documented in the history of South America. Likewise, a maybe more importantly, the movie correctly portrays the police force as either being incapable of really keeping a handle on the drugs and the violence, or unconcerned because they were being paid off. The interesting angle is how the media seems to be the one entity that is interested in the story, and the one creates the most interest in the drug wars of the City of God.

The last thing to note is the rise of the group known as the runts. Kids who are drug users, who rob their own people, and who by the end of the movie are committing murders and planning on committing more. This seems to be the most striking image of the movie, since it is a depiction of how the corruption has seeped down through society to the point where it was affecting the children in the City of God. However, it can be viewed semi-symbolic move on the part of Meirelles, as it might be seen as the youth are taking over their futures and thus the futures of the Latin American countries will be decided by the growing youth movements.

Che Part 1

Che Part 1, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh, was an extremely well made movie about the later revolutionary part of Ernesto “Che”  Guevara.   This was more or less a direct continuation of the “Motorcycle Diaries” which told the story about how he had come to be a revolutionary thinker in the first place. The film bounces around on the timeline of his life, in one moment showing him with his soldiers, the next he might be addressing the U.N., and the next he would be in the ongoing interview with Lisa Howard. Most importantly, while the film gives insight into how he commanded his soldiers, the brilliant tactician that he was, as well as the incredible orator that he showed himself to be, the movie also shows the Cuban Revolution from a sort of inside out perspective.

Che is shown to be a good commander who commands the respect and attention of his men. Likewise he shows his skill as a commander by leading assaults on the Cuban military, and coming away with substantial victories on many occasions, the most important of which was the victory in The Battle of Santa Clara. More importantly though, the film goes out of its way to show the compassionate side of Che, and how this added to his mystique and strength as one of Fidel Castro’s most trusted subordinates. On at least two occasions, when the fighting had slowed to the point where he was able to, Che gave his men the opportunity to end their part in the fight and go home. He also showed that he wouldn’t hold with having weak men in his column when, in another part he was recruiting new soldiers he refused to allow to young student fight with his men because he thought they couldn’t handle it. However, later he praised the two young men when they stayed loyal when others were choosing to end their part in the fight.

The main focus of the movie, is on the guerilla tactics that the Cubans used, and it showed how effective a strategy it was. The resistance managed to fight a much larger force, by rarely attacking when the enemy was stronger, always using the element of surprise, and specifically picking targets that, when they were destroyed, the propaganda machine in Havana couldn’t explain away. What Che realized was that they desperately need the support of the common farmers. He even wrote that, “Warfare is a people's warfare; an attempt to carry out this type of war without the population's support is a prelude to inevitable disaster.” (Guerilla Warfare: A method) This is why the movie took the time to show him meeting with village leaders trying to get them to join and trying to allay their fears about the revolution being closely related with the Soviet Union. It was the widespread support he gathered that ultimately led to their victory.

The last big emphasis was on Che the speaker. Multiple times in the movie he is shown to be giving inspirational speeches, as well as being sent by Castro to negotiations because of his political savvy. He believed strongly in what he was doing and it came out in his speeches. Most notably in speech to the Tricontinental when he said, “Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some receptive ear.” (Message to the Tricontinental) It was speeches like that, that made him so popular, made him so valuable to Castro, and the film does a fantastic job of showing just how irreplaceable he was to the resistance.