FAQ

No. Although it has a similar title to Lund's and Merielles' City of God (2002) [City of God] (2002) and both movies deal with boys growing up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the two films are not contiguous. City of Men is based on a television series of the same name.

People who have seen both the movie and the TV series City of Men (2002) [City of Men] (2002-2005) recommend watching the TV series first in order to get to know the two main characters, Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha). There are flashbacks in the movie to scenes from the TV series, but having watched the series seems to add to the understanding of the movie.

A "favela" is a portion of a town, usually on the outskirts and mostly illegal, where people with nowhere to live construct and live in shanties made out of metal scraps, plywood, or even cardboard, hence another name "shanty town." They usually lack the most basic amenities like running water and toilets.

Cidade de Deus and the TV series Cidade dos Homens, on which the movie is based, are good places to start. Other movies that deal with residents of Rio de Janeiro's favelas include Elite Squad (2007) [Elite Squad] (2007) in which two childhood friends join a Special Ops Squad in order to take down the drug-lords that plague the city, and Favela Rising (2005) (2005), in which a man emerges from the slums of Rio to lead the nonviolent cultural movement known as Afro-reggae. Another movie with the same gritty style of Cidade dos Homens is The Man of the Year (2003) [Man of the Year] (2003), also set in Rio. Bus 174 (2002) (2002) has a different twist on the above movies in that it's a documentary about a real event in which a kidnapper attempted to take over bus 174 in Rio. Also of note is Lower City (2005) [Lower City] (2005), in which lifelong friends, who own a small steaming boat in Bahia, meet a strip-dancer with whom they both fall in love, and Carandiru (2003) (2003), which is based on the real life experiences of a doctor working to help inmates in the deplorable State penitentiary Carandiru in São Paulo.