The two movies “Gangs of New York” (2002, USA) and “Cidade de Deus” (2002, Brazil) are historical crime dramas based on real life events. “Gangs of New York” begins in 1846 with a gang fight in the Little Five points district of New York. The story quickly jumps forward to the 1860s after Priest Vallon’s gang is beaten and Vallon killed. After showing a single scene from the 1970s “Cidade de Deus” jumps back to the 1960s and tells the story of the main characters when they were younger. After showing us their history it goes forward to the 70s and eventually catches up to the original scene late in the movie. One could deduce that it is a global aspect of historical crime dramas to span multiple decades, most likely because there were real life events that needed to be explained for the entire story to fit together. In both movies you see many of the characters when they are younger and then once again when they are older. In “Gangs of New York” the rest of the Priest Vallon’s gang is depicted once Amsterdam, the main protagonist, returns to New York. Amsterdam finds that many of his dad’s friends now work for his father’s old rival and main antagonist Bill the Butcher, who is also the leader of ‘The Natives’ gang. This sets the stage for Amsterdam to take revenge and reclaim his father’s territory. “Cidade de Deus” leads a different path, with two of the main characters, Lil Ze and Benny, robbing and killing random people when they were kids to them in the future now running almost all of the drug trade in the City of God. The film also depicts Rocket as a kid showing him seeing his first camera and then again when he is older and an avid photographer. Both films seem to skip out on the main characters actually growing up; instead it shows their roots with events that shaped them in the past and then begins to tell their story and what became of them.
Another common aspect of this genre of films is death. While it could be said that death is common to all kinds of genres, domestic and foreign, it is especially common in these two films. “Gangs of New York” leaves many of the characters dead along with plenty of others. This was in fact true of New York in the 1860s with the draft riot and gang fights breaking out frequently. Nothing compares to the amount of death that plagues “Cidade de Deus” though. All of the main characters, except for one, die at some point during the film. Death also propels the story along; when the war between Knockout Ned and Lil Ze begins many of their new recruits come to the gangsters because the other one had killed a friend or family member of the recruit. In the end of the film two groups of children who had been in each gangsters own gang took their revenge on Lil Ze and Knockout Ned for killing their friend or family member earlier in the film. “Gangs of New York’s” story line however is not propelled by death; instead it is propelled by greed and a lust for a better life. Greed is a common driving reason in many Hollywood made movies, but is portrayed in a better light: the “American Dream”. In both films the stories come full circle when most of the main protagonists and antagonists are killed. “Gangs of New York” shows a scene zooming out on a graveyard overlooking the city showing how life will go on as usual in New York City. “Cidade de Deus” has a similar ending with the protagonists and antagonists dying off, except for Rocket, and local children organizing a hit list of all the drug dealers whose business they want to takeover through murder, presumably how Benny and Lil Ze came into power. Roca recalls a scene from the film showing the true brutality of the film: “Li'l Ze decides some of the young hoods in his turf need to learn a lesson. He gives a child who looks no older than 10 a choice of being shot in the hand or in the foot. The kid, who himself has just been shooting people, breaks into sobs” (Roca). Both films show how death comes to everyone and life will go on normally no matter how “important” the characters that died were.
One interesting quality of “Cidade de Deus” is that most of the characters on the screen were not professional actors, but in fact actual residents from the slums quarters around Rio de Janeiro including the actual City of God. Around a hundred children and youth were taken and put into actor’s workshops that focused on improvisation of authentic street war scenes. This technique of training led to a very realistic feeling for scenes with gang fights or robberies or the like. “Cidade de Deus” is the first movie of its genre that has used a non-professional cast and turned out so well. Hunter talks of this in his review of the movie saying “Mierelles found them on the streets, and gradually inculcated them to film culture through a series of workshops. Perhaps in no other way could he have captured the exuberance, the unself-consciousness, the pure naturalism that he does. Whatever, the movie feels like no other I've ever seen” (Hunter).
Both movies have a diverse and international soundtrack reflecting the cultures represented in the films. “Cidade de Deus” has a slew of songs from the local Brazil area along with a few other popular songs from South America including “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas of Jamaica. Along with these songs come a few popular American songs, showing the impact of globalization American culture has on Brazil. The American songs are played during scenes in bars and clubs with party atmospheres, and include popular hits such as Charles A. Bobbit’s, James Brown’s, and St. Clair Jr. Pinckney’s “Hot Pants Road.” “Gangs of New York” also has a variety of songs within the film. The film also includes multinational musical scores such as “Brooklyn Heights” composed by Canadian Howard Shore and produced by American Hal Willner. The movie also features Irish music such as Davy Spillane’s “Lament for The Dead of the North.” Both movies try to incorporate music from all the cultures represented in the film, which calls for music from many different countries due to the globalization of the music industry.
These films truly capture the life and times of the cultures depicted in each. The historical crime genre seems to draw on many universal aspects of its own brand. Death seems to follow the genre helping to propel it along in some cases, due to the ties between murder and crime. The films also show the globalization of the cultures through the music that is listened to during celebrations and ceremonies. Both movies also display local characteristics of films from their respective countries. “Gangs of New York” demonstrates the never-ending quest for the “American Dream” and the consequences that might occur if one fails. As Clark stated in his review of the film “it realistically puts you into the Civil War North as much as Gone With the Wind does with the romantically idealized South” (Clark). “Cidade de Deus” shows how a unique approach to acquiring a cast can turn out to be a stellar performance. This genre is an amazing basis for comparing and contrasting films from different regions. Both films try to portray their actual cultures, cities, times, and crimes to the best of their ability, and succeed astoundingly.
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