City Of God

Location

Aim:To undertake the

importance of Location in City of God

Geographically

Rio de Janeiro

• Rio 2016 Promo Film

Favela• Favela is a specifically Brazilian

word for a shanty town. The majority have electricity, but in most cases it is illegally tapped from the public grid. Favelas are constructed from a variety of materials, ranging from bricks to garbage. Many favelas are very close and very cramped. They are plagued by sewage, crime and hygiene problems. Although many of the most infamous are located in Rio de Janeiro, there are favelas in almost every large or even mid-sized Brazilian town. In Rio one in every four cariocas (as Rio's inhabitants are called) lives in a favela.

Drugs in the FavelasThe Colombian cocaine trade has impacted Brazil and in turn its favelas, which tend to be ruled by druglords. Regular shoot-outs between traffickers and police and other criminals, as well as assorted illegal activities, lead to murder rates in excess of 40 per 100,000 inhabitants in the city of Rio and much higher rates in some Rio favelas. Traffickers ensure that individual residents believe they can guarantee their own safety through their actions and political connections to them. They do this by maintaining order in the favela and giving and receiving reciprocity and respect, thus creating an environment in which critical segments of the local population feel safe despite continuing high levels of violence.

Consider how Little Ze does this in City of God?

Favelas in Rio• The best-known favelas are those in and around

Rio de Janeiro, possibly because Rio's peculiar urban geography has placed many of them up the hills that face the city's prosperous seaside neighbourhoods and tourist spots, and thus made them readily visible. They provide a dramatic illustration of the gap between poverty and wealth, juxtaposed with the luxurious apartment buildings and mansions of Rio's social elite. Several hills in Rio are densely populated by favelas. In 2004, it was estimated that 19 percent of Rio's population lived within favelas

The Wealthy

The Slums

Cidade de Deus

• Cidade de Deus (City of God), is technically not a real favela, since it was originally a government-sponsored housing community designed to replace a favela, which subsequently ran down and took on many of the very social features of favelas it was intended to eradicate.

Contrasts

• The images of poverty, violence and hopelessness are in direct contrast with that of Rio as a city of pleasure, carnival, samba and suntanned girls on the beach. Now the Favelas have become as symbolic of Rio de Janeiro as these famous beaches.

Representation of Location

• Representation is constructed through textual elements and informed by the context of a film’s production. You will need to give detailed consideration to the way in which cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound and editing function to create representational meaning within your chosen film.

• How important is the location in the film?

Homework: Film as a character

• In the film the Favela is almost like a separate character in the film. Discuss.