Characterization: Rocket of City Of God (Cidade de Deus)

The City of God IMDB can be found here.

Rocket is a boy caught in the middle of a bad life and gang wars trying to make it into the journalism business. This itself should give some interest to the character, but that is not its entirety.

(Figure 1)

 His conflicts appear in this scene as he is trapped in the middle of the final shootout between Lil' Zé and the police trying to shut down and finally take down Lil' Zé drug cartel within these outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. He must survive the slums to succeed in his dreams of being a photojournalist.  (Figure 1 & 2)

(Figure 2)

His thoughts in the next picture is when he realizes that his love, Angelica, was starting to fall for Benny, Lil' Zé partner in crime. The silhouette shows the sadness in his thoughts. The scenic background gives him room to think. The background also contrasts his feelings in this moment. Although his life was going great, Angelica being taken means that he's a virgin, single and broke. (Figure 3)

(Figure 3)

Rocket's actions revolve around the gangs and cameras. In Figure 4, he has just been handed and brand new and more advanced camera. Since he was poor, he started with the cheapest and lowest quality camera he could start with. You can see the happiness in his face upon receiving this new and much better camera.

(Figure 4)

This scene is the moment when Lil' Zé is betrayed by his own child workers. Although Rocket gives a horrified reaction, he quickly takes pictures. He was raised in a tough neighborhood where this happened many times. The brutality caused him to be held aback but the death of Lil' Zé destroyed the obstacle of his life and helped him fulfill his dream.

 (Figure 5)

Rocket was just the man with camera. Lil' Zé begins to take a liking him because Rocket got Lil' Zé and his gang to appear in a newspaper, thinking that he was finally getting the recognition that he deserved. People liked him for his camera, but they didn't know him.

(Figure 6)