Updated 27 November 2006
English 212, Section 3: World Cinema
Week 13: 20 November 2006
Professor: Don Larsson
6:00-6:15 Quiz 7 (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong)
6:15-6:30 Backgrounds of Latin American/Brazilian film
6:30-8:40 View City of God
8:40-8:50 Break
8:50-9:30 Discuss City of God
Latin American Culture and History: An Overview
Each region and culture has its own unique history but a few generalizations can be made. Major legacies include
§ mixture of cultural/ethnic populations:
o pre-Columbian civilizations and indigenous Indian populations
o Spanish colonization (Portuguese in Brazil)
o African slave populations
o Later waves of immigrants to particular countries and cities
§ Economic domination by European and American interests
§ Some cities and countries become highly developed yet still underdeveloped in rural areas and among poor
§ Extreme class differences reinforced by government and church
§ Tendency toward reliance on the caudillo (“strongman), dictators usually from the military
§ Most Spanish colonies win independence, 1804-1824
§ Brazil declares independence as Empire in 1822, becomes Republic in 1899
§ U.S. remains importance military and economic influence on region (Mexican War, Spanish American War, building of Panama Canal)
§ 1940s: Most South American countries given American aid under “Good Neighbor” policy
§ 1950s-1980s: U.S. supports South American dictatorships in fear of Communist sponsored revolutions or uprisings
§ 1959: Fidel Castro overthrows Cuban dictator Battista and founds first Communist government in the western hemisphere, supports revolutionary movements in other countries
§ 1980s-present: gradual restoration of democratic governments in most Latin American countries
Latin American Filmmaking
Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are major filmmaking countries
Major directors include Nelson Pereira dos Santos (Brazil), Leopoldo Torre Nilsson (Argentina), and Luis Bunuel (Mexico). Bunuel adds surrealistic elements to genre films and social realism.
Brazil, 1950s: Rise of Cinema Novo (New Cinema)
§ Technically eclectic and experimental
§ Expressed nationalism, populist movements, social criticism
§ Popular and native culture spur themes of “tropicalism” and even cannibalism as satirical elements
§ Supported by government, inspired by Pereira dos Santos (Vidas Secas, How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman)
§ Other directors:
o Ruy Guerra (Os Fuzis/The Guns)
o Glauber Rocha (Black God, White Devil)
o Joaquim Pedro de Andrade (Macunaima)
§ 1964: Military coup seizes power, but directors continue to work until 1969, when censorship increases
§ Filmmaking becomes more politicized and militant among dissident filmmakers (parallels Godard’s shift to the left in France), rise of international call for “Third Cinema” to counter U.S. and Europe.
o Cuba: Memories of Underdevelopment, Lucia
o Argentina: Hour of the Furnaces
o Chile: The Jackal of Nahueltoro
o Bolivia: Blood of the Condor
Brazil, 1975: Embrafilme established as state-controlled production monopoly
Influence of Latin American “magical realism”
§ Literary movement influenced by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, films also influenced by Bunuel’s surrealism
§ Imbues the ordinary with a sense of being magical, the magical as taken for granted
o Bruno Barretto: Donna Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976)
o Carlos Diegues: Bye-Bye Brazil (1980)
o Hector Babenco: Pixote (inspired in part by Bunuel’s Los Olvidados); Kiss of the Spider Woman, with William Hurt and Raul Julia (1984)
Recent Latin American directors have had international successes leading to Hollywood films:
§ Alfonso Arau: Like Water for Chocolate, A Walk in the Clouds
§ Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu: Amores Perroes, 21 Grams, Babel
§ Alfonzo Cuaron: Y tu mama tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
§ Walter Salles: Central Station, Dark Water
Fernando Meirelles: City of God, The Constant Gardener
City of God: Questions for Discussion
1. How is the story of the film structured through Rocket’s narration?
2. In all of the grim events in this film, how is humor used?
3. What does the film reveal about the individual lives in this community? Who, if anyone, is to blame for how these lives turn out?
4. What hope, if any, does the film offer?
5. How do different stylistic effects affect how we react to different events?
Discussion Summary:
City of God follows in a tradition of South American films that deal with the lives of children living in extreme poverty and under brutal conditions in the city. Such films include Bunuel’s Los Olvidados and Hector Babenco’s Pixote. But while those films have their own aspects of “magical realism” or fantasy to indicate the dreams and aspirations of these children, City of God goes in a different direction, being narrated by one young man who did succeed in escaping this life by turning his eye toward it.
The story is presented as a series of portraits and stories by Rocket, a studious young man who is both not disposed to the kind of crime that sustains most of the community but also has seen the example of what has happened to his own brother. In contrast to Rocket is Little Ze, who even as a boy is revealed to be a sociopath who kills for his own pleasure. In between is Knockout Ned, who begins by trying to avoid conflict but gets caught up in the cycle of killing and revenge, ultimately setting the stage for his own death. Little Ze himself is finally undone by his own ambition and pride. Having taken over the entire drug trade in the City of God, he sets himself up to killed by The Runts, the band of child-killers, who are just a brutal as he was. The life in the favela continues on its downward spiral, but Rocket does escape. The film does not present his escape as a fantasy, though. His photos of the city and of Little Ze have landed him an internship at the newspaper, which pays very little. In the long run, though , it promises Rocket a better—and longer—life than he might have had.
At the root of the violence is government corruption. The City of God itself was created as a kind of suburban oasis to relocate poor people living in the actual favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In fact, though, the military government of the time simply wanted to improve its own image by getting the settlers out of sight of the city’s elites and the eyes of foreigners. The City of God becomes an intensely ironic name. The new streets are never paid, the lampposts never have electricity and there’s no running water or sanitation. The drug trade intensifies when the main product switches from marijuana to cocaine, formerly a “rich man’s” drug but now promising bigger returns to the dealers. Supporting the trade are the police, who not only turn a blind eye to much of the criminal activity in exchange for bribes, but also actually sell guns to the dealers. Rocket’s photos of the police taking money for Little Ze’s freedom are actually more dangerous for him than the photos he takes of Little Ze himself.
The film incorporates several key elements of Italian Neorealism, such as the use of nonprofessional actors (only one of the cast members actually had experience as an actor), handheld cameras, and location shooting. However, the film is also uses much more sophisticated techniques, including expressive lighting, freeze frames and slow motion and other devices that emphasize particular points in the narrative or particular characters. The narrative itself is fairly complicated in its structure. The movie opens with a scene from near the end, as Little Ze and his gang are chasing after a chicken and meet Rocket, who thinks that they are after him, Rocket suddenly finds himself in the middle of a conflict between Little Ze and Knockout Ned. The film ultimately loops back to that scene but only after a number of flashbacks that present us with the stories of individual characters by taking us back to key moments (such as Little Ze’s—or Little Dice’s, as he is still called then—murder of the people in the motel). The passage of time is indicated in a variety of ways. For example, the apartment that originally belongs to the woman drug dealer then passes down from one dealer to the next until it belongs to Blackie, one of Little Ze’s lieutenants. Along the way, we see the room go from a place that is fairly comfortable under the circumstances to a grimy hovel, reflecting the downward spiral of the entire community. Another time cue is in the music being played, which starts with the gentle strains of Brazilian bossa nova in the 1960s and moves to hard rock in the 1980s.