Why City of God is superior to Godfather and Goodfellas.
- Thread starter Axolotl
- Start date
Say what now?!
The deepest plot twist in the Godfather trilogy is when Michael discovers Fredo is the traitor when he slips up in Cuba. Now that was great, but City of God is full of moments like that, like when Benny gets shot it's a culmination of so many little actions leading to Blacky trying to pop Zé; or the kid at the end who kills Knockout Ned.
Or the foreshadowing set up from the movie's start: the Trio Mortes set up their own dooms when they gave Zé that gun. He shoots up the hotel, causing the cops to gun hard for Shaggy, whereas if it went down smooth like a proper heist they'd have gotten away clean. Then he uses the same gun to kill Goose, who in turn had a hand in Shaggy's death by fukking the snitch's wife, causing him to hold a grudge against them.
When Zé gives the Runts guns, he sets up his own downfall, and the circle of death is completed.
Less an interesting point, and more a point of ignorance. If your takeaway of The Godfather is simply about a family, and not a commentary on Italian diaspora, the conflict of AC/IC, the nature of man, and the human condition, in general, well, you probably need to look at the film through a different lens.thats an interesting point
for me, the sopranos is 1a and the wire is 1b. breaking bad is a distant third
Sensitive Christian Grey
The Fisher King
Respectable
Less an interesting point, and more a point of ignorance. If your takeaway of The Godfather is simply about a family, and not a commentary on Italian diaspora, the conflict of AC/IC, the nature of man, and the human condition, in general, well, you probably need to look at the film through a different lens.
The focus is undeniably on the Corleone family, the men of which are the protagonists. Of course the movies offer deep social commentary - as does Sopranos - but in City of God, the protagonist and the focus of the film is the favela, whose story is narrated by Rocket. Rocket is not the protagonist, neither is Zé, Knockout Ned, and whoever else. Just as in The Wire, the focus and the protagonist is the city of Baltimore, not Avon, Marlo, Stringer, or any of the cops.
You can't identify a concrete community focus like that for Godfather, only an abstraction and allegory for the broader Italian American experience. shyt the second movie takes place in Nevada and Cuba as much as it does New York; and even in the first movie time is divided between Sicily and New York.
If you leave the favela in City of God, you're irrelevant to the story from that point forwards. Shaggy and Benny both die as they are about to leave, which symbolises the inescapable, prison-like nature of the favela. Even Rocket, the only guy who gets out alive, has to go back in.
RARI_Godwind
St. BAWGustine - DarkSkxxxn
Bené was a cold motherfuka man
COG will always be in my Top 5. And I also visited back in 2012 so I got to see the real COG in person, gives you a better understanding of their situation in present time.
A big factor to remember is none of the people in COG were professional actors except like 2 of them I believe. The white dude with the red hair and the girl Rocket had a crush on. Everybody else was fresh to acting I believe, even Seu Jorge.
A big factor to remember is none of the people in COG were professional actors except like 2 of them I believe. The white dude with the red hair and the girl Rocket had a crush on. Everybody else was fresh to acting I believe, even Seu Jorge.
seymour cake
All Star
I never finished cog because of the sub titles. Im a try one of these days, but i cant enjoy and focus on the movie and read at the same time.
And yet you said - "Both are outstanding but one is about an entire city, the other is about a family, and for me there is a greater degree of complexity in telling the story of a city as opposed to a family."
In one breath you're saying there's a greater degree of complexity in telling the story of a city, as opposed to just a family - alluding to the scale of the two, and in the next, you're saying COG has a more "concrete community focus", as The Godfather is about the Italian-American experience as a whole - which would mean the latter falls in line with your logic of it telling a story which has "a greater degree of complexity".
And it's even more than just the IA experience, it's about the shifting landscape of America, post-WWII, and everything that its plates moved. Which is why The Godfather can't just operate within the confines of something like a favela, because it's much, much larger in scope.
Secure Da Bag
Veteran
for me, the sopranos is 1a and the wire is 1b. breaking bad is a distant third
I couldn't stand breaking bad. it recycled the same issue every 10 episodes. But The Wire > The Sopranos only because I haven't watched all of the Sopranos. The Wire is just authentic as fukk though.
SheWantTheD
Veteran
I got a list somewhere but one I remember is Old Boy, the Korean version.
That's one good azz movie if you haven't seen it yet.
