Movies about the lives of gangsters are by their very nature often full of violence - the criminal life on the wrong side of the law is a dangerous zone of recklessness and immorality. City Of God is no exception, and the violence is often all the most arresting on account of the age of those carrying it out. That City Of God is based on real life events in Rio de Janiero only makes the murderous actions of the young gangster children all the more shocking - it's a brutal insight into the way in which poverty breeds crime, which in turn breeds a particular type of psychopath. No character fits this criteria more so than Li'l Zé - few on-screen villains are quite so gleefully sadistic before they've even become an adult.
