City of God - analysis of opening scene + one other scene

City of God - Analysis of opening scene + the kids scene

City of God, a film considered to be a modern masterpiece of Brazilian cinema, tells the story about the hopelessness of living in the favelas and not being able to escape. In the first scenes of the film, the audience understands the themes as they are being foreshadowed through narrative and cinematography. The main themes presented being violence, the want to escape, community and the contrast between the present and the past.

Firstly, these themes are foreshadowed in the first minutes of the film. The opening scene shows the audience what themes are going to be treated from the very first image: a knife being sharpened, mixed with the sound of reggae music, typical from Brazil. A fast paced introduction that captures the audience's attention, showing a poor community dancing, playing instruments and cooking outside on the rooftop of a two story building. The chicken’s attempt to escape from the same fate as the other slain chicken can be compared as another theme to be discovered later on in the film – a foreshadow to one of the main themes. The animal escapes momentarily to the narrow streets before Lil Z orders to have it captured. The image of the children going after the chicken with guns in hand has an impact of surprise on the audience. With Lil Z’s voice giving orders in the background, the little boys run after the animal, taking away any expectations of innocence that the audience could have anticipated from the children. The mise-en-scene gives a realistic view of the Brazilian streets, showing a sense of community with people eating together in terraces under the sun. Meanwhile, the streets are filthy and claustrophobic, with the buildings closing on people who seem smaller as a result. These are shown through the chicken’s perspective, as the camera shows from its eye-level for a way to escape the mob of kids and survive. The sudden gunshot catches the audience by surprise. It seems out of place in what looked like a children’s innocent game of catching a chicken. As mentioned earlier, the themes of violence, escape and community can be seen in the first minutes and opening scene of the film, which are later developed and shown more extensively.

In the same way, the binary opposite of past and future (which narratively could be considered of main importance) is seen in the opening scene as well. The contrast between the sixties and the beginning of the eighties can be instantly perceived with the difference of dominant colours. Showing the sixties through a warm lense and the past through cold colours shows the main character's perception of these times – in this case, Rocket. His voiceover automatically aligns the audience with him: the main character. The transition back to the sixties has the camera turning around Rocket, who finds himself in between the gang and the police, until he is shown in the same physical position years before. This time on a football field. His child self is presented to the audience to be in a better atmosphere in comparison to the cold city, where he found himself in the middle of the trouble. The same city is presented differently as the mise-en-scene and colours change. The tall buildings, the lack of sky and the cold colours subtly transmit the message of negative, dangerous and claustrophobic. In comparison, the smaller buildings, the presence of the sky and the warm colours give a more positive message that represent community and a better atmosphere. The contrast of colours representing these different timelines show that the past was better than the present. With the passing of time and the gangs becoming more aggressive and radical, life in the favelas becomes worse, and with the introduction of Lil Z who, from his first scene is portrayed as dislikable and represents the next generation of delinquency, his binary opposite becomes more distinguishable: Rocket.

Correspondingly, Rocket and Lil Z are portrayed as complete opposites from the very beginning: the protagonist and the antagonist. On one hand, Rocket is symbolized in the camera and is shown to be calmer through cinematography. As a comparison, Lil Z’s characteristic symbol is a gun and his persona is shown to be chaotic and aggressive. These are seen in the camera movement. For example, whenever Lil Z is present the camera is shaky, there are many close-ups that present him as unpleasant and the sounds are chaotic. Rocket is shown to be calmer, the camera is steady and the sounds are not disorientating nor chaotic.

Secondly, another meaningful scene that foreshadows the ending and has an emotional response from the audience is the kids scene. It starts with, what seems, a group of kids trying to replicate Lil Z’s gang. They even celebrate what they have stolen together and talk about how they want to get in the business. They start planning what their next job should be, talking about how they would have to wait for the person in charge (Lil Z) to die so they can be in charge – basically follow his steps. But their conversation is cut short as Lil Z appears, saying that “the boss is here”, scaring away most of the children. He is presented as someone to be feared with the camera angle that shows him to be much bigger in comparison to the kids, which also aligns the audience with the children. Sympathy from the audience is then easy to achieve because of the camera position. Lil Z and the others seem bigger and more intimidating from the children’s perspectives and, as they corner two of them at gunpoint, the audience is bothered by this. He then asks the two cornered kids where they want to get shot: “shall I shoot you in the hand or foot?” He then chooses the opposite and shoots them in the foot, showing his cruel and horrible self once again. As part of his initiation, Steak (another young kid) has to decide which one of them he is going to kill. Again, the camera position resembles the kids eyeline which is much more emotional and immersive for the audience as they can sympathise with them. It also resembles Steak’s eyeline and shows how hard it is to do what he has to do. He has no choice and decides to shoot the bigger kid, but the difference in the reactions between him and Lil Z shows that one does it for survival and the other one for pleasure. The camera shows the remaining kid, crying disconsolately, while Steak stands with Lil Z in a position of power. After Giant leaves limping and crying away from Lil Z, the last shot of the scene is of Steak looking at the dead body of the kid which is blurry for the audience.

Overall, the movie effortlessly balances between light hearted and sorrowful moments. The opening scene foreshadows the main themes and the roles that each character will play in the future, which the audience learns to identify instantly due to the good use of cinematography. The lighting, editing, sound, and camera movements align the audience with certain characters and hints to the audience who the antagonists might be.