City of God Opening Scene Analysis

 The opening scene of City of God immediately establishes the fast pace and chaotic tone of the film in general through rapid-fire editing. The first thing we see in the film is the screen cutting from black to a close-up shot of a knife being sharpened, which immediately tells the audience that this film will be violent. The film does this repeatedly as fast paced samba music fades in, increasing the pace of which the film cuts from the black screen to the knife, immediately increasing the adrenaline of the audience and preparing them for the film. Even the title screen, which remains on screen for only 3 seconds, is not still, as it includes both a fast zoom out, as well as shaky cam. The music finally fades all the way in, just as it is established as non-diegetic, as we see it being performed by villagers, with others dancing. The film swiftly cuts between this and other people cooking, as well as defeathering a chicken that had previously been killed. Not only does this continue to continuously increase the pace, culminating in the climax of the scene; but also it immediately establishes the setting of the film as being one that, while may be impoverished, is also very close-knit, as will be seen throughout the rest of the film. During this, we see the fear on the face of another chicken while it watches a chicken being dissected.  

Eventually, the chicken that we see in fear escapes, and the music stops, slowing the pace of the film for a brief moment, making the music non-diegetic once again. However, this does not last, as someone (who we later know as Lil Ze) calls a group to chase after the chicken. The tone of the scene changes immediately, as a group of armed men begin chasing after this chicken and much more typical chase music begins to play. The fact that Lil Ze begins to laugh at this suggests this is an occasional occurrence, further establishing this chaotic, unpredictable environment. The gang fire gunshots at the chicken during this chase scene, displaying their violent and erratic behaviour for the first time in the film; in fact, during this chase scene, Lil Ze bumps into an elderly man, and while the man is on the ground with his back to the wall, Lil Ze pulls out his gun, implying that he kills this elderly man. I believe that this is foreshadowing for the rest of the film, as everyone who tries to escape the City of God throughout the film is met with the same violence and in most cases, subsequent death. 

During this chase sequence, we are introduced to the protagonist of the film, Rocket, who is having a casual conversation with another character, which will not make sense until later in the film when Rocket's retelling of the story reaches up to this point. He is first seen in the distant background, behind a billboard, which is a very unconventional way of introducing a main character, though in my opinion an effective one, as it adds a sense of realism and immersion into the world of the film, as it establishes him as simply a part of the world, rather than the world revolving around him, like with many other similar films. Eventually, both parties meet at a crossroads (in this case literally) and Lil Ze demands that Rocket gets the chicken. We can tell by the use of slow motion, the camera circling Rocket and the fear displayed on Rocket's face that this situation is life or death for Rocket, and both of these characters know each other. Rocket cautiously approaches the chicken, as the gang aim their weapons at him. The situation escalates as the police arrive and begin to have a standoff with the gang, with Rocket stuck in the middle. The camera begins to circle Rocket as he looks around, showing that he has nowhere to go, as he states via monologue: "if you run away they get you, if you stay they get you too. It's been that way ever since I was a kid." During this, the camera continues to circle Rocket, rapidly increasing in speed before transitioning to the 1960s. The scene up until this point had used a very cold colour palette and lighting due to the harshness of the environment; however, as the film transitions, it becomes much brighter, suggesting that things were better in the past, or that Rocket is simply looking back at these times through a nostalgic lens.