City of God
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime. From TMDB
214 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews) · newest Oct 28, 2026 · last updated Oct 29, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 65 | 1 | 124 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| TMDB reviews * | 2 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
69 archived X posts (Mar–Apr 2026) are kept for the record and not used.
What people are saying
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Critics, per Wikipedia
The film was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The film could not be part of the official selection because Walter Salles, one of the executive producers, was in the festival jury. In Brazil, City of God garnered the largest audience for a domestic film in 2002, with over 3.1 million tickets sold, and a gross of R$18.6 million ($10.3 million). The film grossed over $7.5 million in the U.S. and over US$30.5 million worldwide. On Rotten Tomatoes, City of God has an approval rating of 91% based on reviews from 162 critics, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's consensus reads, "City of God offers a shocking and disturbing—but always compelling—look at life…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 214 · most liked first*me, trying to relate to the Brazilians* “I love “City of God” great film, one of my favorites.”
positive · AI labelView post →Please see a repost of an old fan art based vaguely on the movie City of God
neutral · AI labelView post →Never forgotten these exact words, was being driven across Poland with the amazing Uruguayan cinematographer of City of God, César Charlone, and he says to me ‘a great film negative is rich and layered like an avocado, does digital taste like anything?’
neutral · AI labelView post →What's your favorite movie from each decade of your life? 80s - Raiders of the Lost Ark 90s - Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie 00s - City of God 10s - Mad Max: Fury Road 20s - Sinners
neutral · AI labelView post →Was there some weird technicality that made CITY OF GOD ineligible for Foreign Language Film? Baffling that it wasn't even nominated in that category (it got 4 other nominations including Best Director)
neutral · AI labelView post →13 movies to get to know me: MST3K: The Movie Jaws Night of the Living Dead (1968) Monsieur Hulot's Holiday City of God Young Frankenstein The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Ran Mikey and Nicky Hot Fuzz Kung Fu Hustle Rififi The Station Agent
neutral · AI labelView post →"A cinematic tour-de-force and also a powerful weapon for change" Oscar winner becomes biggest Brazilian box office hit in UK history (overtaking even City of God!): dmovies.org/2024/09/01/i...
neutral · AI labelView post →City Of God was my favorite movie when I was 17 and I just watched it for the first time in like 12 years and 17 year old me was exactly right that movie rules
positive · AI labelView post →The first 2 episodes of the new HBO Max series “City of God: The Fight Rages On” have had an intriguing meta-conversation on the effects of selling images of violence in Black communities to the titillation of white audiences chadstanton.substack.com/p/why-arent-...
neutral · AI labelView post →Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell and Wagner Moura to Star in ‘Art’ Satire From ‘City of God’ Director Fernando Meirelles variety.com/2026/film/gl...
neutral · AI labelView post →Picking a random film from my collection to show off for no real reason! Day #15 "City of God" (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund/2002) Absolutely incredible crime/drama about two young men taking separate paths growing up in the slums outside of Rio de Janeiro. Highly recommended!
positive · AI labelView post →18: Favorite foreign language movie City of God (Cidade de Deus) 2002 #MovieMadness
neutral · AI labelView post →10 films I was privileged to teach that stunned my classrooms. La Haine City of God No Country for Old Men Vertigo Amy This Is England Winter’s Bone Never Let Me Go Bonnie and Clyde Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans Film changes lives. I know, I've seen it happen often.
neutral · AI labelView post →First: go watch City of God. Incredible film all these years later. Second: This information has shot Edgerunners 2 way up my watchlist.
positive · AI labelView post →City Of God displaced Memento as teenage me's favorite movie and I'm so glad it did though
positive · AI labelView post →What’s a movie that wins you over in the first 20 minutes? Cidade de Deus (City of God 2002) Dir: Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund
neutral · AI labelView post →I was born in 1980... I'm choosing one movie per day from each year to today. City of God At 22 years old… this movie made me so much more aware!!! I’m so grateful for it!!! 🎬🎥🍿 📺📽️ #filmsky #moviesky #moviechallenge Day 23/45 2002
positive · AI labelView post →#NowWatching CITY OF GOD (2002). Director: Fernando Meirelles. Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino. Slums of Rio de Janiero is backdrop for coming-of-age story of two friends on very different paths. Nominated for 4 Oscars. Rewatch. #filmsky 📽
neutral · AI labelView post →Never knew that. In Brazil, specially in Rio, the same thing happened. Favelas like Cidade de Deus(City of God, from the hit movie) were created by people that lost everything due to arson. The dictatorship never investigated those arsons. This helped the gentrification of seaside neighbourhoods.
neutral · AI labelView post →So, @letterboxd.social posted a fun question on Instagram that I thought I'd repost: 🧟 it’s a zombie apocalypse and your four favorite films are not available to watch anymore. which four do you replace them with? I'd go: Mon Oncle Seven Samurai Raiders of the Lost Ark City of God #Letterboxd 🎥
neutral · AI labelView post →#MovieMadness #MovieChallenge Day 20 - A great movie you'll never watch again "City of God" (2002) Well, never say never, but I bought this on DVD 21 years (!) ago and have never unwrapped the packaging because I've never been quite up for such a harrowing watch. youtu.be/QujbbyEUXjo?...
positive · AI labelView post →As a photographer I've always been interested with how this art form is investigated in film. Honorary mention of Blow Up of course! One Hour Photo. Proof. City of God. Harrison's Flowers.
neutral · AI labelView post →Post a banger not in English Seu Jorge's "Convite Para Vida." This is the song that plays at various points of City of God, a movie that's firmly placed within my top 10 list. Love love love this song over the credits, making you think about everything that you just witnessed.
positive · AI labelView post →Sinners was... alright! I wish it didn't turn into what it turns into! After Final Reckoning Mission Impossible 2 is no longer the worst MI film! The first one still rules! City of God remains one of the best films ever made! Whodathunkit!
positive · AI labelView post →#OctoberMovieChallenge #MovieSky #FilmSky Day 16 ~ Something raided in movie 🎬 City of God (2002)
neutral · AI labelView post →(not me though, my favorite movie when I was 17 was City Of God)
neutral · AI labelView post →Name a movie that you rate 10/10. Only one 🎬 City of God (2002)
positive · AI labelView post →#Podcast: #WatchWithJen - S7: E11 - Photography Movies with Leslie Byron Pitt The film blogger, podcaster, & photographer returns to the show for a wide-ranging chat about a variety of films, especially REAR WINDOW, ONE HOUR PHOTO, & CITY OF GOD. Listen everywhere: www.patreon.com/posts/watch-...
neutral · AI labelView post →I accidentally became an editor, sitting at a Steenbeck flatbed editing suite. I was able to indulge my passion for editing while teaching City of God, New Hollywood, and Bonnie and Clyde in particular, referencing Kuleshov, Soviet film as well as Hitchcock. youtu.be/bQtkbQkURCI?...
neutral · AI labelView post →rewatched City of God with the wife last night for the first time in like a decade — still a great movie but this was me having forgotten about that gang initiation scene
positive · AI labelView post →The movie you want is the City of God.
neutral · AI labelView post →No one talk to me for 2.5 hours, i’m seeing City of God for the first time in an actual movie theatre at Vidiots!!!! First time I saw it in 2004 I watched it to impress a man (ew, gross) but it is arguably one of the best and most important films of the 2000s.
positive · AI labelView post →Choose 20 movies that have stayed with you or influenced you. One film per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just images. Movie 10 #Filmsky 💙🍿 #Movies City of God (2002)
neutral · AI labelView post →!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! City of God is one of my ten favorite movies, so.... please don't let this suck please don't let this suck please don't let this suck please don't let this suck please don't let this suck please don't let this suck
positive · AI labelView post →Saw “The Secret Agent” last night and it’s still bouncing around my ribs. What a delicious film. A really weird little unit. Wagner Moura is transcendent. A truly bizarre structure that makes me want to watch more Brazilian films to see if it’s their vibe. I think the last one I saw was City of God?
neutral · AI labelView post →when I worked at EA and we held a “best Xmas movie” bracket for everyone in the HQ to vote on, there was this comms lead who INSISTED that 2002’s “City of God” was a Christmas movie and while no one voted for it on the bracket, no one wanted to challenge him on it either
neutral · AI labelView post →In line for BEAST RACE, a post-apocalyptic film set in Rio from CITY OF GOD director Fernando Meirelles!? So hyped. #SXSW
neutral · AI labelView post →City of God. Great movie, not great date movie.
positive · AI labelView post →Now playing: City of God *LOVE* this one. It's been too long since last time. Aye, it's one of my ten fave films. In my humblest of opinions, it does the sprawling crime saga thing better than Goodfellas. Haunting from the kinetic opening to the end credits song. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADMR... 🎥
positive · AI labelView post →I love the movie City of God, but a lot of Brazilian ppl don't because it shows the impoverished side of Brazil. They don't want the world to know My Country has problems that aren't the fault of imperialism or whatever.
positive · AI labelView post →A lot of wild assertions in this story, like how in Brazil, a single deal with a corrupt banker can derail an authoritarian federal politician's career But also, "The Secret Agent" was Brazil's most costly movie at just $5 million? City of God felt like a $10M movie www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/w...
neutral · AI labelView post →I forget that there's a large subset of people surrounding Seattle who think that riding public transportation in our city is basically like the movie City of God
neutral · AI labelView post →No One Asked Top Ten movie revenge scenes: 1. Carrie 2. #Gaslight 3. Inglorious Basterds 4. City of God 5. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 6. The Princess Bride 7. The Virgin Spring 8. The Shawshank Redemption 9. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 10. Hard Candy #TCMParty
neutral · AI labelView post →Movie #13: Tigers Are Not Afraid (Vuelven) Issa López wrote and directed this Mexican dark fairy tale of a horror movie, featuring some of the best acting I've seen from kids since City of God. I'm a sucker for magical realism, and this one's got plenty. Watch this one!
neutral · AI labelView post →City of God Any fans of this Brazilian crime drama? Joining me to discuss this year in film: @moviesanduspod.bsky.social #Movies #FilmSky
neutral · AI labelView post →OK i had to look it up, and those nominations were for the 76th Academy Awards. That year, Brazil submitted another movie for best Foreign Language Film (Carandiru). They did submit City of God the year before, for the 75th AA, but it didn't get the nom. Looks like it fell a bit between the cracks
neutral · AI labelView post →Saw this. "Ya No Estoy Aqui" ("I'm No Longer Here") is beautiful and heartbreaking film. The rawness and realness reminds me of City of God, but loved the creative music and dance culture it highlights. Also shows how leaving (and not leaving) are impossible choices many immigrants forced to make.
neutral · AI labelView post →Tsotsi, based on a novel by South African writer Athol Fugard and directed by Gavin Hood. I taught it alongside City of God and La Haine in a 'Power, Poverty and Conflict' module. A film where a bad man becomes better, instead of the other way around. Moving and intense.
neutral · AI labelView post →"It was like a message from God: "Honesty doesn't pay, sucker."" ☀️ #OTD in #Film #History 18 May 2002, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's Brazilian crime drama CITY OF GOD, starring Alexandre Rodrigues and Leandro Firmino da Hora, premiered at #Cannes.
neutral · AI labelView post →2000s Movie Draft: Drama: City of God Action: The Dark Knight Horror: 28 Days Later Comedy: Beerfest Romance: Almost Famous Sci-Fi: MInority Report Thriller: Collateral Animated: Howl's Moving Castle Oscar Winner: Return of the King
neutral · AI labelView post →Voting time! Andrew’s pick for the 2003 Gorham Award (Egregious Oversight) Best Foreign Language Film The Barbarian Invasions vs City of God What deserved to win the Oscar? Cast your vote in the comments #movies #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →#FilmChallenge from @neo-rey.bsky.social - 26 days, a film you’ve seen for each letter. If you’re missing a letter, you need to fill it in! Today is C. I choose City of God, the brilliant 2002 film about life in the Brazilian favela. If you haven't checked this film out yet, run don't walk. #FilmSky
positive · AI labelView post →first week of #letterboxdfriday for june had an accidental twilight reunion sort of in my #lastfourwatched Lost in Starlight (2025) Mickey 17 (2025) Spencer (2021) City of God (2002)
neutral · AI labelView post →From the co-director of the City of God!!! Yes! Damn my man is busy! www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
neutral · AI labelView post →I loved the film “City of God” for its beauty and vitality (and its sound quality, including the Portuguese), and because in 2002, international cinema was one of the easiest ways to catch glimpses of the big 🌍. Its violence, too, felt like art. It continues on TV! open.substack.com/pub/chadstan...
positive · AI labelView post →Embarrasingly, I had not watched "City of God" til now, I know I'm 20+ years late, and goddamn has my mind been blown. There are so many characters, and none of them feel unnecessary. What a great film.
positive · AI labelView post →Had no idea HBO picked up a sequel to City of God with several of the original actors and executive produced by one of the original directors. I am intrigued, if only because the original may be my favorite film this century.
positive · AI labelView post →My immediate response to this is City of God from 2002. A movie I think about so much but have yet to go back and revisit. What a poster though. #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →City of God. 2002. Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund. A well loved film in a ‘Power, Poverty and Conflict’ module I taught alongside La Haine and Tsotsi. An explosive combination! youtu.be/RfnGQetbX-U
positive · AI labelView post →Wasn’t initially too psyched for this one because I’m not the biggest movie/TV guy, but then I remembered Jorge Drexler’s Oscar for The Motorcycle Diaries and the absolute bangers on the City of God soundtrack. Might go all Latin America on my ballot
neutral · AI labelView post →
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