City of God

As a chicken makes its daring escape from the clutches of hungry meatpackers, it unwittingly sets off a chain reaction of events in the Cidade De Deus, a sprawling Favela on the outskirts of Rio De Janeiro. The feathered fugitive leads an armed gang on a wild goose chase through the cramped streets and alleyways, ultimately drawing to a halt between them and Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), a young man who has reason to believe that his life is in grave danger.

As Rocket recounts his tale, we are transported back in time to the late 1960s, when the Favela was still a relatively new and impoverished housing project. It was an era marked by scarcity of resources, with electricity and water luxuries reserved for the privileged few. Amidst this backdrop of deprivation, three scrappy amateur thieves known as the "Tender Trio" - Shaggy (Jonathan Haagensen), Clipper (Jefechander Suplino), and Goose (Renato De Souza) - operated on the fringes of society, preying on unsuspecting business owners. Goose, Rocket's older brother, was a key member of this motley crew.

The Tender Trio's modus operandi involved stealing and plundering valuables from their victims, before redistributing some of the spoils to the Favela's residents in a twisted display of community bonding. Their exploits had earned them a certain degree of respect among the locals, who saw them as a force to be reckoned with. A group of impressionable young boys, including Li'L Dice (Douglas Silva), looked up to these rough-around-the-edges thieves as role models.

Li'L Dice's admiration for the Tender Trio knew no bounds, and he eventually convinced them to stage a daring heist at a local motel. The gang agreed to hold their fire and not harm anyone, with Li'L Dice serving as lookout and armed with a gun. However, an unsatisfied Li'L Dice decided to take matters into his own hands, firing a warning shot that spiraled out of control. In the ensuing chaos, the gang fled the scene, leaving behind a trail of destruction and death.

The Favela's residents were left reeling in the aftermath of the motel massacre, and the authorities were quick to respond with force. The Tender Trio was subsequently forced to disperse, with Clipper seeking solace in the church, Shaggy meeting his maker at the hands of the police, and Goose falling victim to Li'L Dice's treachery after a botched heist gone wrong.

As the curtain closed on the Tender Trio's ill-fated adventure, Li'L Dice found himself fleeing the Favela with Benny (Phellipe Haagensen), his partner in crime. Initially content to eke out a living through petty larceny, Li'L Dice eventually became seduced by the allure of the drug trade, which was controlled by the ruthless Carrot and his network of dealers, including the notorious Blackie. The stage was set for a new era of violence and depravity in the Cidade De Deus.

As the 1970s dawned on the Favela, once a sprawling urban jungle had taken root, Rocket finding himself amidst a tribe of free-spirited hippies. His creative eye for photography had him smitten with Angelica (Alice Braga), but his attempts to bridge the gap between them were consistently thwarted by "The Runts", a gang of petty delinquents. Meanwhile, Li'L Dice, now rebranded as Li'L Zé (Leandro Firmino Da Hora), and his partner Benny had established a thriving drug empire by systematically eliminating competition, except for one holdout, Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele), and forcing his manager Blackie (Neguinho) to toe the line. The Favela, once a hotbed of violence, enjoyed a fleeting period of relative calm under Zé's benevolent rule, thanks in part to his cunning strategy of having an initiate take out a Runt to deflect police attention.

Zé's plans to eliminate Carrot were momentarily derailed by Benny, who successfully talked him down. However, Ze' was convinced that Carrot was secretly backing the Runts in their respective territories, and their brazen hold-ups in the Favela only served to further complicate matters. Carrot, ever the pragmatist, advised Zé to focus on his own business, but Ze' chose instead to take matters into his own hands, dispatching one of the Runts with a fatal shot.

Rocket, seeking a fresh start, took up employment at the local supermarket. Benny, meanwhile, had found love in the arms of Angelica and was preparing to leave the City behind. As Zé became distracted during their farewell gathering, Blackie's well-meaning but ultimately deadly mistake saw Benny fall victim to his own misguided attempt to take down Li'L Zé.

In the wake of Benny's tragic passing, Ze' was left unchecked, and Carrot seized the opportunity to exact revenge by killing Blackie for putting a price on his life. As tensions continued to escalate between the two factions, the City of God descended into chaos, leaving only one man, Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge), standing in their way. Zé's brutal assault on this unsuspecting individual, coupled with an equally heinous act of sexual violence against Ned's girlfriend, served as the catalyst for a cycle of retaliation that would ultimately consume them all.

As Ned's brother exacted his own brand of vengeance by stabbing Ze', the resulting bloodbath saw Zé's gang retaliate by killing Ned's brother and raining down hellfire on his family's home. In the aftermath, Ned, driven by a burning desire for revenge, threw in his lot with Carrot, sparking a full-blown war between the two erstwhile allies that would leave only ruin in its wake.

As the 1980s dawned, both sides in the conflict engaged in a surge of recruitment efforts. Zé, a master manipulator, supplied the Runts with the firepower needed to intensify their campaign. In the process, the original motivation for the war was all but forgotten, replaced by an endless cycle of violence and retaliation. One day, Zé summoned Rocket to capture his likeness on film, a move that ultimately backfired when one of the prints found its way onto the pages of a local newspaper. The publication's female reporter had stumbled upon the photograph, and her bold decision to run it sparked widespread interest, as no journalist had been able to gain access to the City of God for years.

Rocket, realizing his life was in danger if he returned to the Favela, found himself taken in by the reporter for the night. It was there that he lost his innocence to her gentle charms. With Zé's newfound notoriety hanging precariously in the balance, Rocket agreed to continue documenting the gang's activities, unaware of the perilous game he had just entered.

As the stakes continued to escalate, Rocket found himself returning to the City for more photographs, carrying with him a renewed sense of purpose and a growing unease. His film developed, he brought it back to the opening scene, only to be confronted by Zé's gang, who were eager to capitalize on his newfound fame.

In a stunning turn of events, Zé asked Rocket to capture another photograph, but just as the young photographer was about to snap the shot, the police arrived, their presence foiled by the timely arrival of Carrot. In the ensuing chaos, Ned met his untimely demise at the hands of a young gang member seeking revenge against him for killing his father, a security guard who had been murdered during a botched bank robbery.

As the dust settled, Li'L Zé and Carrot found themselves behind bars, their fates sealed. The police planned to milk their capture for all it was worth, using Carrot as bait to lure in the media and then exploiting his gang's long-standing debts to further their own interests. Rocket, ever the opportunist, secretly captured the scene on film.

In a shocking twist, Zé met his maker at the hands of the very Runts he had once led. The gang, intent on taking control of the drug trade for themselves, dispatched Zé with ruthless efficiency. Rocket, now in possession of two photographs that could change everything, found himself torn between publishing the shot that would expose police corruption and cement his own legend or the one that would secure him an internship at the newspaper.

In a bold move, he chose the latter, leaving the Runts to plot their next move as they set their sights on the Red Brigade. The film concludes with the Favela's residents walking the streets, their faces etched with a mix of fear and determination, as they contemplate the uncertain future that lay ahead.