City of God is the most internationally visible Brazilian film since Cinema Novo — and it carries that tradition's political commitment alongside its kinetic energy. Glauber Rocha's Cinema Novo manifesto demanded films about Brazilian poverty made with Brazilian aesthetic energy. Meirelles answered that call four decades later. But the direct ancestor is Pixote — Héctor Babenco's 1980 film about street children in São Paulo, which is rawer, more devastating, and less widely seen. Pixote is on MUBI.
Films That Influenced City of God
