It is a bitter irony that a man forgotten by gangster slums was called the City of God by this, expressing his vain but not dying hope for a better future. And the film itself, in fact, is nothing but a cry for the world space - save us! Maybe after the victories at festivals and loud conversations in the press, the government, at last, will look at us - and something will change. Only hardly.
We look at it through plasma monitors, and someone wakes up every day with a gun at the waist and the prospect of getting a bullet in the guts. They live as they can. Civilization reached these quarters only in the form of pistols, otherwise the law of the jungle reigns. Kill someone else to kill you tomorrow. Win a couple of years at the "power" - but do not brake the queue. There is already a boy running in white panties, who will pierce your chest and leave lying on the street. From the City of God, there is only one way out - directly to God.
These people have no choice. Even if you get a job as a conductor and want to quietly - peacefully spend the evenings with a girlfriend at the TV, you can do it with two. As the narrator of this story managed to maintain neutrality and not get involved in anything, it's a mystery to me. Yes, of course, he was harmless and not fit for gangsters, but do not fall under anybody's hot hand - you also need to have a unique talent. The dream of becoming a photographer and blind luck carried him out of the City of God, he escaped - to show us unusual realities and shocking lawlessness.
In general, it was interesting to watch, sometimes scary (for these people), but I cannot say that the film left an extremely depressing impression.