A TV adaptation of City of God is coming to TV

City of God: The Fight Never StopsThe sequel to the award-winning Brazilian film hits the small screen this Sunday with a mission to find a balance between the extreme violence of drug trafficking and the potential of favela residents.

More than two decades later, the film has drawn the attention of thousands of viewers around the world to the struggles of society’s marginalized. Rio de Janeiro, Hyperbaric oxygen and producer Oxygen film They resurrected the aesthetic and some of the characters to speak to the new reality.

“The characters that survived the movie are now back,” joked Fernando Meirelles, the feature film’s director and current series producer, in an interview with EFE.

The drug dealers are still there, just as violent and ready to pull the trigger, as are the corrupt politicians, cash in hand and hungry for power.

In addition, new actors have emerged, such as militias, groups of former police officers who now compete with drug traffickers for control of slums.

“Before, the criminal had a knife, now they have a machine gun,” said Buscapé, a photographer at the event. Alexander Rodriguez.

Indeed, there’s no shortage of machine gun fire in the fast-paced first chapter as a former gang member fresh out of prison begins to battle his former employer for business status.

But amid a surge in series about Latin American drug dealers, City of God wants to go a step further; not by staying stuck in the bloodbath, but this time showing the perspective of the slum dwellers.

“We show how the Black Lives Matter movement emerged in the community and how those who were previously victims became protagonists and began to change society.””, Meireles explained.

Discover life in Rio de Janeiro

Between shots, one can glimpse what Meirelles says is going on: Social leader Barbantinho seeks election to Rio de Janeiro City Council, and Buscape himself begins to consider whether he should film fewer sensational fights and more scenes of resistance from Rio’s neighbors.

And there’s Berenice, a high-powered hairdresser who returns to the ghetto years later, wary in case her boyfriend decides to do something illegal.

“This is not our war; it’s yours. If you choose the life of a criminal, you’re out of my life,” she warned him.

“I’m not doing this to be a criminal, I’m doing it for the community,” he responded, referring to the sometimes overlapping roles of drug dealers and suppliers in a field historically ignored by authorities.

Actress Roberta Rodriguez, who plays Berenice in the series and the film, told EFE that now is the time to talk about “hope.”

Rodríguez was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro’s Vidigal favela and trained as an actor through a theatre project promoted by an NGO for neighbouring residents.

“We know that only 1% of the people in the favelas are into crime… It’s a normal place, people here are working, they have dreams, and they are incredible athletes, as we saw in the Olympics,” he said.

The series, directed by Brazilian filmmaker Aly Muritiba, will be broadcast on HBO Latino in the United States and Max in other countries, with one new episode every Sunday afternoon.