Cinematic Techniques In City Of God

City of God tells the story of Rocket, a young Brazilian boy who aspires to become a photographer and Lil Ze, a gangster who grew up with Rocket. The film details their lives and the ensuing gang war within the slum known as Cidade de Deus. The film has garnered a massive reputation as one the premier foreign films of the last twenty years. Rocket’s character type is the main protagonist while Lil Ze portrays the film’s main antagonist. The juxtaposition of personalities Rocket and Lil Ze have established the crux of the film. The cinematic elements used in the film to help convey its themes of hope, struggle, and good and evil is the use of editing, lighting, and effectively portraying character types.
The film begins with Lil Ze and his …show more content…
In the beginning of the movie, when Rocket and Lil Ze are children, the lighting is extremely bright and golden from the sun. The lighting makes the viewer feel hopeful about these children and although they are living in a slum and engaging in illegal acts, there is still hope for them to come out of this hole and do something great with their lives which in ways they do. As the story transitions from Rocket’s early childhood to adolescence, the viewer gets to see the slum grow as well. At this point in the story, the slum is over capacity and so much violence occurs that the police do not dare go into the area allowing various kinds of criminal activity to take place. The lighting is no longer bright and sunny either. Its gloomy and dark giving the feeling of doom to the audience and to the characters. The film uses the close up to great effect in this act of the film. Closing in on each character’s face when they speak, giving the viewer a claustrophobic feeling in the dangerous Cidade de Deus. The close up prevents the viewer to see what is happening in the area around the character. This gives the feeling of uneasiness about what could happen