I've surfed the internet in search of more information on City of God (Cidade de Deus) which i'd really enjoyed back in the day. To my surprise, i've discovered that there had been a spin-off TV show, called City of Men (Cidade dos Homens). It's been difficult to find it, but it paid off! The TV show format set some limits to City of Men, yet gave it more freedom at the same time. Given the length of each episode, the story can't develop as in a feature film. On the other hand, it gave the show the possibility to follow and develop the characters in a way that no feature film would allow.
The life in a favela is depicted in such a way that you wish to travel to Brazil only to visit one of them. However, this vivid depiction doesn't fail to show the hardships these people go through on daily basis. They all embrace life with south-American easygoing attitude which is bound to create chaos. And we see that it affects everyone, from drug lords (good or bad by nature) and police (corrupt or not) to people (from favela or elsewhere).
The topics covered showed that the City of Men had also an educational role, discussing the problems of the poor an depraved. The fact that it's been filmed in real favelas and mostly with actual inhabitants, conveys the message even stronger.
The life in a favela is depicted in such a way that you wish to travel to Brazil only to visit one of them. However, this vivid depiction doesn't fail to show the hardships these people go through on daily basis. They all embrace life with south-American easygoing attitude which is bound to create chaos. And we see that it affects everyone, from drug lords (good or bad by nature) and police (corrupt or not) to people (from favela or elsewhere).
The topics covered showed that the City of Men had also an educational role, discussing the problems of the poor an depraved. The fact that it's been filmed in real favelas and mostly with actual inhabitants, conveys the message even stronger.