Even as Slumdog Millionaire continues to reap awards and greater glory in its heady race to the Oscars, some folks have slammed the movie as vastly inferior to, and even a copy of, the critically acclaimed Brazilian film Cidade de Deus (a Portuguese language movie released in 2002).
Not a Copy
No, Slumdog Millionaire is not a copy of Cidade de Deus a.k.a. City of God although tis’ true that both are fast-paced movies set amidst the grinding poverty of wretched urban slums that inevitably turn into noxious breeding swamps for seething anger and frequent eruptions of violence caused by guns, drugs, gang warfare, police corruption and total neglect by the political leadership.
Both movies show the horrifying reality of the unfortunate kids living subhuman lives in slums.
In Slumdog Millionaire, these kids are forced into prostitution or maimed into blindness by acid and forced to work as beggars while in Cidade de Deus, the young kids turn into monsters shooting and looting stores in the slums at will. As the bunch of runts talk among themselves toward the end of Cidade de Deus:
Have you heard of the Red Brigades?
No, but if they come we’ll kill them too.
Let’s make a blacklist. We’ll kill them all.
Paisa Vasool, Bhai
After watching these two gritty movies set amidst the slums of Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai, our verdict is that both provide a worthy return on time and money invested.
Unlike total trash like Villu or Chandni Chowk to China, both Cidade Deus and Slumdog Millionaire are Paisa Vasool enjoyable movies.
Here comes the big question – Is one better than the other? To us, the answer is a resounding No although others have different opinions.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Cidade de Deus – Superior Acting
Of course, there are differences between the two movies.
Overall, you get to see a much better quality of acting in Cidade de Deus. Continue reading »
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