City of God

City of God, a movie based on a real story, is a story about three “hoodlums” – the Tender Trio, Lil Ze & Knocout Ned at a lower class quartet called City of God, located at the west of Rio de Jeneiro.
It begins with chicken running across the street, this story is told backwards from the viewpoint of a boy name Rocket, who likes to take photograph. He witnessed the hoodlum's progress, from Tender Trio, to Lil Ze, to the death of Lil Ze.
The story ends with Li'l Zé being killed by a group of young gang members who take over the business and go about composing a list of people to kill. Rocket becomes famous from his front page photograph of Li'l Ze's body.

The cinematography of this movie is really awesome. Besides being nominated by Time as one of the 100 greatest movies of all time, it was also nominated for Academy Awards (Best Director – Fernando Meirelles, Best Adapted Screenplay – Braulio Mantovani, Best Cinematography – Cesar Charlone & Best Film Editing – Daniel Rezende)

If I am given a choice to choose the top three movies that I’ve watched for the past few years, this would definitely be one of them. This is one of the greatest movie that you shouldn't miss.
(* All conversation in Portuguese)

Credits:
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The film finds a surprising amount of tenderness and humor beneath the brutality. The laughs may catch in the throat, but that's only a byproduct of City Of God's power to leave viewers breathless.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Breathtaking and terrifying, urgently involved with its characters, it announces a new director of great gifts and passions: Fernando Meirelles.
Washington Post Desson Thomson
One of the most startling, grittily brilliant films in recent years.

(Rating: 95.5/100)