2002 drama, dir. Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund, Alexandre
Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino Da Hora;
IMDb /
allmovie. You can be the
biggest toughest gang leader on the streets, but you're still on the
streets.
In a way this reminded me of Black Caesar, which similarly
reminds us that while a local kid can make good as a local gang boss,
there's a definite threshold above which he'll come to the attention
of genuinely organised crime, and (insofar as there's a difference)
the police may take an interest too.
It's notable that even by local standards Zé is just a horrible
person; Benny, his predecessor, at least gets some happiness, but Zé
is always focused on the next hustle. Even Rocket, the one kid who
does get out, didn't expect it to work; the pathetic gratitude he
shows when a newspaper reporter gives a casual word of praise to his
photographs was for me one of the most powerful moments of the film.
It's well done and some of the camerawork is very fine (and some of it
inspired by The Matrix because we can do bullet time now) but it's
not a film I'm likely to feel any need to see again.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.
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