FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE City Of Men

The other day there was a report on the Corona crisis in Rio on the radio and my colleague Luanny became sad. It's a virus that mainly affects the poorest people.

 A classic mafia movie starts with the hero telling us about his dream: To become a gangster. City Of Men (just like the role model from the cinema "City Of God") dives into the slums of Rio de Janeiro, where the gangs of children assert themselves. Just like the classic mafia thrillers, City Of Men urgently deals with the individual characters, traces their path with great passion. But: Do these kids want to be gangsters? Is that their dream? No. They simply have no other choice. The slums in Rio serve a single purpose: They were built to separate the poor from the rich. At the moment my colleague Lua from the video store is sadly watching how the poorest people in the slums become the most tragic victims of the Corona crisis. No one is trying to help them. They live isolated. From this situation they once created living places; full of life music, but above all full of danger. Invisible lines exist everywhere. This gang on one side, that on the other (the police is the most powerful gang). The kids in City Of Men seem like para-military. Equipped with machine guns and walkie talkies. They work in an organized way, just like people who do their jobs. The camera whirls around them, while the streets empty out as soon as the kids arrive. City Of Men is able to show everyday life in the favelas much more clearly than the cinema film. A life with values - but without any chances. This life leads nowhere and the film knows that. Sometimes you think that the film also leads nowhere. Everyone seems to be stuck at a certain point. A feeling of grief and loss is spreading. But the favelas are not a place where only crimes are committed. The ghetto is mainly inhabited by hard-working people who want to get by somehow. They struggle to exhaustion, then return home where more work awaits them. We can guess how difficult it is to raise children in this situation. Maybe you recognize the actors Douglas Silva and Darlan Cunha from the movie? Acerola and Ace (Douglas Silva) is now the involuntary father of a child. This in turn is already being passed around among the children's gangs. Ace today is forced to deal with the subject of education. Wallace (Cunha) tries to establish a belated relationship with his father, who was in prison. Then a turf war breaks out and both find themselves on opposite sides. Co-produced by Fernando Meirelles Paulo Morelli takes over the direction. City Of Men is a TV series, not a feature film. It tells episodes of loss and resistance based on the story of Ace and Wallace. It is important that we are clearly shown how the Brazilian state denies the most basic comforts to all those people who move from rural areas to Rio to find work. Instead, these people in the favelas are being demonised. But the real violence comes from poverty and murderous police invasions alone.