<br /><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cidade de Deus (City of God)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is a 2002 film, directed by Fernando Meirelles, which follows the life of Rocket, as he grows from a boy into a man (and then photographer) in the favela, City of God, in the 1960s and the 1970s.<span> </span>Although it is fictional, it is based on actual events (and a novel of the same name), and it can be called a “testimonio” which are apparently common in literature that originates from the favelas of Brazil. (Hart 205)<span> </span>The Hart article discusses what the film got right, while the Oliveira article discusses an important issue that the film only hints at:<span> </span>race and class in the favela.</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">What the film addresses in relation to actual events, according to Hart, is showing how “the lives of the subaltern classes are manipulated by the mediatic, governmental, and law-enforcing powers within society.” (206)<span> </span>The film especially shows the way they are controlled by the media and police.<span> </span>We first see the media’s hand when we see the newspaper photographer taking multiple shots of Shaggy’s dead body, more than likely to be used to keep any would-be hoods too scared to commit any crimes.<span> </span>Later we see the media’s influence by the newspaper using Rocket’s connection to Li’l Ze to get pictures of him and his gang.</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The police’s manipulation is seen clearly enough when it is revealed at the end of the movie that they were the ones selling the guns to the two rival gangs all along.<span> </span>But this is the only action the police take throughout the gang war until the end, when we see “Li'l Ze's refusal to pay for his guns that the police decide to act, because they have been providing him with the guns in the first place.”<span> </span>(206)<span> </span>By this time most of the members of each gang are dead, so the police’s sudden involvement makes little difference.</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two important subjects that the film does not explore are race and class.<span> </span>That is not surprising since, according to Oliveira, “In Brazilian scholarship, race (if not disregarded entirely) tends to be explained as a result of class conflict.”<span> </span>(72)<span> </span>While film is hardly scholarship, Oliveira’s assertion holds true.<span> </span>It may also be because there is a “relative lack of racial segregation in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.”<span> </span>It was also interesting that the film did not even hint at the political struggle of the favela citizens.<span> </span>Especially in the terms of landownership:</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span> </span>Landownership has become a critical part of the favelados'<span> </span>political agenda, for through ownership residents guarantee their right to settlement and ensure the favela's continued existence.<span> </span>80</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is interesting that they would want the favelas to continue to exist instead of building up new accommodations for themselves.<span> </span>They do have to own the land first of course.<span> </span>That is probably one of the reasons why they associate race with class conflict in Brazil.</span></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NVEFsTgZCnQ/TY_P7C1x-bI/AAAAAAAAABQ/f_bNzIUScO0/s1600/comradejd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NVEFsTgZCnQ/TY_P7C1x-bI/AAAAAAAAABQ/f_bNzIUScO0/s400/comradejd.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comrade Judging Dog is back. And he judges your actions on Spring Break: Guilty!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1378570525637450649-7875883397957326866?l=dcaldwellhistory475.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
