City of Men is a crime drama starring Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha, Camila Monteiro, Rodrigo dos Santos. Directed by Paulo Morelli.

City of Men is the sequel to the universally praised 2005 film City of God, a film that I have, unfortunately, not yet seen. Like many sequels, I got a strong sense from this film that the filmmakers were assuming the audience had seen the first film (such as assuming the audience already knows the back-story of some of the key characters). However, City of Men can stand on its own as a fine, poignant film and it does make me want to view its acclaimed predecessor.

The story focuses on the lifelong friendship of two young men growing up in the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro: Ace (Douglas Silva) who is married and is trying to support his young son and Wallace (Darlan Cunha) who is searching for his father (he wants to be one of the few young men in his neighborhood to NOT have “father unknown” on his identification papers). The lives of these two young men are thrown into jeopardy when they are caught in the crossfire of a deadly turf war-Ace’s in particular as he makes potentially deadly mistake of seeing the wrong person at the wrong time. Furthermore, their friendship is put to the test when Wallace’s quest for his father leads to an unexpected, tragic revelation.

Perhaps the one major flaw in City of Men is its plot. Whereas City of God was praised for its wild unpredictability, City of Men follows a rather conventional plot familiar to fans of crime dramas and message films. In particular, the major revelation, which will lead to Ace pointing a gun at Wallace, seemed a bit contrived and predictable.

However, a conventional plot should not detract too much from what is admirable about the film. For one, the film is shot in a lush, rich over saturation of color that almost seems to make the audience feel they are on these streets. In the day, the streets seem bathed in a yellow glow. The nights are dark black, with an almost gold tint. The sweat on the characters is shown in close up. It is a hot, stifling, oppressive world these young men live in and you can feel the heat.

The acting is also superb without drawing attention to itself. Silva and Cunha seem authentic and natural. It is easy to believe that these two young men did indeed grow up as lifelong friends on these streets. They both have a quiet dignity about them and a genuine desire to find a better life for themselves and their loved ones. I found I cared very much what happens to them, which added to the tension of the final scenes set during a turf war. Furthermore, Rodrigo Dos Santos, who plays a key role later in the film, is moving in the way he plays a character full of guilt and resignation, yet still trying to do at least one thing right in his life.

City of Men is not a great film, as again, it has a rather conventional plot and assumes its audience has seen its predecessor (and it is probably beneficial to see City of God first). However, it is a good film that is beautiful to look at and offers compelling characters to care about.

Extras:

• A short but well done behind the scenes piece called Building a City of Men

Sound:

• Quality is good, but not great. The film is presented in Portuguese and There are no dubbing options.

Subtitles:

• English
• English for the hearing impaired
• French
• Spanish

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