Spun off of the hugely popular Brazilian TV serial City of Men -- which was itself a spin-off of Fernando Meirelle's brilliant 2002 feature CITY OF GOD -- Paulo Morelli's feature lacks the visceral punch and epic sweep of Meirelle's searing look at life in the gang-ridden favelas of Rio. But it's lighter, funnier and violent, and it's not entirely without hope, making this tale of survival under horrendous conditions far more suitable for younger, more impressionable audiences.
Rio de Janeiro, November 2nd. It's the day after the Day of the Dead, and childhood friends Acerola, aka "Ace" (Douglas Silva), and Laranjinha, aka "Wallace" (Darlan Cuhna), residents of the overcrowded suburban slum known as Dead End Hill, are turning 18. Ace and Wallace are eager to finally get their required identity cards, but unlike Ace, Wallace has no idea who his father is -- his grandmother (Maria Francisca) will only say that he worked as a waiter and spent the afternoon Wallace was born playing soccer with his teammates -- and he dreads the shame of having the words "Father Unknown" appear on his ID. Ace promises to help his friend find his father, first by scouring the neighborhood for the surviving members of the old soccer team, then the parole lines when they learn that Wallace's father wound up in prison after a botched restaurant robbery. They eventually finds him: His name turns out to be Heraldo (Rodrigo dos Santos), and he has little interest in having a relationship with the son he never knew. Ace, however, won't give up even though he has problems of his own to worry about. After getting his girlfriend, Cris (Camila Monteiro), pregnant, Ace did the right thing and married her, and they now have a one-year-old son, Clayton. Cris has heard about a job in Sao Poalo where she can earn her as much as $30,000 in a year, but she'll have to leave Clayton with Ace back in Rio. Ace isn't sure he's ready to become a part-time single parent, but caring for Clayton proves to be the least of worries. Tensions between Midnight (Jonathan Haagensen), Wallace's gang-leader cousin who runs the hill like his personal fiefdom, and Nefasto (Eduardo BR), his disgruntled lieutenant, have reached a boiling point. Midnight orders Nefasto to execute Fiel (Luciano Vidigal), an underling whose sister, Camila (Naima Silva), Wallace loves, after Fiel recklessly mugs someone in broad daylight, then tries to bribe the local police after he's caught. But Nefasto only fakes the execution, then enlists a grateful Fiel in his plot to overthrow Midnight in a violent coup. Ace, however, has the bad luck to see Fiel walking around very much alive not long after Nefasto told Midnight he was dead. Ace tells Wallace who naturally tells a distraught Camilla that her brother is still alive, and by the time word eventually reaches Midnight, he mistakenly assumes that Ace has chosen Nefasto's side in the war that's about to tear Dead End Hill apart.
The episodic, flashback filled story structure, complicated relationships among characters and the intertwining story lines belie the film's telenovela roots (in fact, all the flashbacks are drawn from episodes of the original serial). And that experience serves the story well: Elena Soarez's admirably economical script manages to introduce a host of characters and give them all something meaningful to do before wrapping it all up in just under two hours. Even audiences unfamiliar with either the serial or Meirelle's acclaimed film will have no problem following along and keeping up with the brisk, at times explosive, pace. leave a comment --Ken Fox
