Cidade De Deus (City Of God)

Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is just another 11 year-old boy in Cidade de Deus, a suburb on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. He grows up observing the exploits of the Tender Trio--Shaggy, Clipper and Goose--a group of small-time hoodlums. Lil Dice (Douglas Silva) moves into the neighborhood, a kid the same age who already dreams of being Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous criminal. His wicked nature becomes evident early in life. He runs errands for the local outlaws. He admires Shaggy and his gang, who hold up gas trucks and commit other petty crimes. Shaggy gives Lil Dice the opportunity to kill for the first time... and Lil Dice never looks back.

By the 1970s, Lil Dice has changed his name to Lil Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora) and has taken over the area's drug-dealing business. Rocket, too frail and scared to become an outlaw, but also too smart to be content with an underpaid job, discovers he can see reality with a different eye: the eye of an artist. Eventually, he becomes a professional photographer, which is his redemption. By the early 1980s, gang warfare has completely taken over the ghetto. Which, if any, of these colourful characters will make it out alive?