AmaiStina
02-13-2004, 12:15 AM
this isnt by any means a rant, im not speaking negatively about City of God, but b/c my reaction to the film didnt seem popcorn-appropriate, i decided to put it here.
i saw it tonight. it was really depressing. im sure the filmmakers (katia lund & fernando meirelles) meant for the film to be disturbing, not visually per se but definitely ideologically.
i cant help but think that i was supposed to leave it feeling great for the narrator. i mean, hes telling the story* so you know he survives. but i just felt really depressed & was even more convinced that some people are basically evil..lowercase e.. and that human beings still arent that wonderful. i had this unsavory feeling at the pit of my stomach. it was as close to being physically ill due to exposure to an artistic stimulus as ive ever gotten (the only other time i ever wanted to hurl as a result of reading or watching something was in an FHM/Stuff magazine that had a detailed & visually aided article about a flesh-eating virus).
*oddly enough, i never once thought to myself "hmmm. hes the narrator, okay so that means hes got to be in every scene if not every shot." thats my usual response to films with narrators. in this case, it simply didnt occur to me to think about it.
i saw it tonight. it was really depressing. im sure the filmmakers (katia lund & fernando meirelles) meant for the film to be disturbing, not visually per se but definitely ideologically.
i cant help but think that i was supposed to leave it feeling great for the narrator. i mean, hes telling the story* so you know he survives. but i just felt really depressed & was even more convinced that some people are basically evil..lowercase e.. and that human beings still arent that wonderful. i had this unsavory feeling at the pit of my stomach. it was as close to being physically ill due to exposure to an artistic stimulus as ive ever gotten (the only other time i ever wanted to hurl as a result of reading or watching something was in an FHM/Stuff magazine that had a detailed & visually aided article about a flesh-eating virus).
*oddly enough, i never once thought to myself "hmmm. hes the narrator, okay so that means hes got to be in every scene if not every shot." thats my usual response to films with narrators. in this case, it simply didnt occur to me to think about it.