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Producer Fernando Meirelles returns with the “City of Men”
in the Brazilian favelas made famous with his 2002 “City of God,”
nominated four times at the Oscars, this time for a more human approach but
still keeping the background: gangsters and poverty in Rio de Janeiro's favelas.
The movie, directed by Paulo Morelli, follows the story of
two best friends, Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha), who
are closer than brothers. Acerola, 18, is married and fills overwhelmed with
the thought of taking care of his infant son as his wife, Cris (Camila
Monteiro), leaves to Sao Paolo to find work.
He works as a security guard and for him to assume this kind
of responsibility is hard as he himself is only a child in a man’s body.
In the meantime Laranjinha is about to turn 18 and he has
never met his father. This idea obsesses him and he starts the search of his
father as he needs a last name for his identification card. The only lead he
has is a neighborhood rumor.
His cousin Madrugadăo (Jonathan Haagensen) is the boss of
Dead-End Hill and when he is betrayed by one of his men, Nefasto (Eduardo B R
Piranha), the two friends find themselves on opposite sides.
Nefasto tries to occupy Madrugadăo’s territory and that is
when the warfare begins.
In the end Laranjinha finds his father, Heraldo (Rodrigo Dos
Santos), who has just got out of prison after serving 15 years of 20-year
sentence for murder. Heraldo looks exhausted and has an air of defeat even though
he is in his mid-30s thus showing that is too late for the two to bond. This is
probably how Laranjinha will end in 20 years if he will survive the favelas.
The movie is an adaptation of a successful Brazilian
television series of the same title that was shown on the Sundance Channel and
is currently available on DVD.
“City of Men”
has a more dramatic approach and takes time to develop the friendship story
between the two.
In order to do that Morelli uses some flashbacks drawn from
the series thus showing us Ace and Laranjinha growing up on the screen.
The movie shows the impasse of their relationship and how
the void made by the absence of their fathers is filled by outlaws in favelas.
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