The first part of this chapter discusses phases of favela representations in Brazilian cinema through handpicked examples like Rio Zona Norte (dos Santos 1957) or Babilônia 2000 (Coutinho 2001). Together with scholars of Brazilian cinema (Nagib, Bentes, Xavier), the author argues that the favela is one of the most recurring landscapes in Brazilian cinema and favela films some of world cinema’s most memorable ‘local expressions’ of ‘global currents’ like neorealism or Third Cinema. Movements like Cinema Novo and key directors like Nelson Pereira dos Santos have not only produced these memorable films, but they have also stimulated vital ideas on the way filmmakers ought to address the lives of the underprivileged. Building on this, the second part provides an extended close reading of City of God (Meirelles 2002), which narrates three decades of drug trade in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The author shows how the film builds on previous favela films and so creates an immersive experience of a ‘cinematic city of god’, which, however, disintegrates into a ‘cinematic city of violence’ – and so becomes a modified version of Cinema Novo’s plea for an ‘aesthetic of violence’ in the digital age.
