analysis of city of god

1. Analysis of city of God
The opening of City of god started with digetic sound which started in the title sequence
what created a sound bridge between the title and the opening scene. The digetic sound
was of lively upbeat music, this is effective as it aids the audience to establish that the
film is set in brazil due to the specific music and the montage of barmen creating a
famous Brazilian drink with lime.
A montage between people preparing to kill chickens by sharpening their knives but
then people dancing and enjoying themselves this creates a Binary opposition of life vs
death because, the director chose to focus upon the chicken which is effective towards
the audience as it emphaises the last moments of light. This is shown as it is presented
that this is the chickens last moment of life and the effective shots show the images
what the chicken would be seeing before death despite his escape. The director ends his
sucessful montage with an effective close up of a bowl of blood this reminds the
audience how sacred life is and how easily it could end, this reflects well with the people
dancing and celebrating as it presents the views of trying to enjoy and treasure the small
moments in life as you only live once.
The chicken is then shown leaping of the edge to escape what creates the illusion of
leap of faith, this ties in with the physical and mental factor to leave the City of God and
it is refered to a leap of faith as it is a 100% risk as you may not suceed and if not it could
result violently. The chicken then becomes a representaion to one of the characters as it
is revealed that he is looking to find a way out of the City of God, this is revealed by a
convosation between the two characters which states a iconic photo he could take to
move out of the city however a struggle between another character is also revealed. The
use of a point of view shot during the chicken escape emphasises the characters
struggle to get out of the city of god, this is effective due to the significance of the
chicken and characters status as many people are trying to catch the chicken which
suggests a methaphoric relation of the character as there are many obstacles in his way.
The character is then placed between the thugs and the law which presents the decision
this character will be forced to make later on in the movie, the use of crosscutting in this
scene is effective as it emphasies the paths he can decide and how very different they
are apart. This is effective as the audience are aware of the decission he will have to
make and the use of an arc shot to reverse time to reveal the characters back story, will
present all the actions and decisions leading to that particular moment is an effective
source of narration of the character as its difficult to create a clear judgment on what
choice he will take. The use of mise en scene was effective to clarify the thugs and their
location as the setting was in a villa what reveals Brazil, and the people were carrying

2. guns what reveals some source of illegal activity and violence.
To conclude The city of God uses a range of editing techniques to evaluate the
characters story and status within the film, for example the extreme close up between
the main thug and the main character revealed they had some sort of past what could
reflect on or influence their present actions. However the opening failed to evaluate the
past of the main thug and what actions and decisions he had made to require his status,
so therefore was this actually an effecitive film opening?