City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) is a 2002 Brazilian crime film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. All the characters existed in reality, and the story is based on real events. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and criminal Knockout Ned. The tagline is "If you run the beast catches, if you stay the beast eats," a proverb analogous to the English "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
The movie begins depicting chickens being prepared for a meal. A chicken escapes and an armed gang chases after it. The chicken comes to a stop between the gang and a young man named Rocket (Buscapé), who believes that the gang wants to kill him. In a creative move, the "Matrix" shot stops time and circles Rocket. Suddenly he's a young boy playing soccer on a dirt field. It's the 60s and this is how City of God came to be. Wikipedia
