A knife is sharpened. A terrified chicken, condemned to the barbecue, slips its bond and runs for its life. Young men give chase, firing their guns. The chicken slips through the wheels of an oncoming police van, and ends up at the feet of Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), who finds himself caught, along with the hapless chicken, in the middle of an armed standoff between the young men and the police. This breathless introduction to 'City of God' lasts little more than two minutes, and yet its arbitrary sequence of cause and effect captures the very essence of this film, with its opening image - that sharpened knife - perfectly encapsulating both the film's rapid cuts, and its constant sense of imminent menace.

The rest of the film comprises a series of interlinking tales which span the previous two decades, all narrated by Rocket to explain the full significance of that opening scene, and to chronicle the place in which it unfolds - a deprived housing project on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Its name - Cidade de Deus or 'City of God' - is in certain respects obviously ironic, as it is a place of adultery, thievery, rape and cold-blooded murder, described at one point by Rocket as 'hell'; and yet as Rocket's multiple narratives unfold, patterns and connections emerge suggesting that an Old Testament god is never far away, punishing all wrongdoers in the fullness of time, and allowing no unrepentant hoodlum ever to leave the 'City' alive.

Since the 1960's, Rocket and L'il Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora) have led parallel lives, the one aspiring to be a photographer, the other ruthlessly determined to become the criminal godfather of the 'City'. As their paths cross and intersect in the film's different episodes, a series of snapshots develops of a desperate place abandoned by the law, where even though the buildings and style change with each new decade, people's lives remain frozen in a narrative which continually repeats itself.

Fernando Meirelles' 'City of God' is an exuberant, multi-faceted film, combining fast-paced editing with a narrative bravado which enables him to make very serious observations on the consequences of social exclusion without ever ceasing to be entertaining and original. One can see the influence of 'The Godfather' and its first sequel, of 'Pulp Fiction', of 'Apocalypse Now', of 'Blow', and even of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', but in the end this film is in a league of its own.

Simply superb.

Anton Bitel, 06.01.03