City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund) is the film that brought Brazilian cinema into the public attention, set from the sixties through the seventies the film paints a bleak picture which has been blended with nostalgia to create a thoroughly compelling picture.

City of God is based on a favella of the same name, and the meteoric rise of gang’s and drug culture whilst also giving incite into Brazilian culture. The story follows Rocket, a budding photographer and his interactions with the various key players in rapidly changing environment in which he was raised.

The film perfectly creates a narrative which feels like a selection of memories, stories back track and interweave, the whole thing is cut at a fast pace, but not so fast as to distract the viewer or miss key details, it is in fact the attention to details which truly link the strings of story into a coherent structure. The way the narrator describes various characters and events creates a sense that these are memories. It is this structure which creates the nostalgic feeling, almost as if the narrator is looking back and missing that time, despite the obvious hardships. The most brutal elements of the film are shot with low lighting or with a soft focus which blurs the image, where as the more ‘happy’ moments are shot in bright light and with a sharp focus, further aiding the nostalgic style.

The story is painted with such moral grey area, and it is this which makes the film that much more compelling. Every character has sympathetic qualities, even the most brutal and dislikeable characters, L’il Ze, still has redeeming moments. If it wasn’t for excellent performances from all the members of this large cast these moral greys would be harder to distinguish, and the actors should be commended.

Overall the film is a must-see, and the Blu-Ray transfer does justice to the film, the transfer is a clean and fantastic picture, and the sound is crystal. As with many subtitled movies there are times when the text is difficult to read against the background, but its is so infrequent that it does not detract from the viewing. Extra features are sparse, only two, ‘News from a personal war’ and ‘A conversation with Fernando Meirelles’.

City of God is available on Blu-Ray from the 19th of September 2011.