70
Posing proudly with their rifles or musing matter-of-factly about their own deaths, the boys are tragic enough. But it's the girls who break your heart, stoic and wise beyond their years.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
The story of how La Sierra moves from a seemingly pointless war to an unexpected peace is a thrilling one, although the impact of seeing what becomes of these three kids is devastating.
70
The intense focus on this trio makes for good portraiture, but it left me hungry for more about the social context that shaped them.
70
A stark, relentlessly deglamorized vision of ghetto life, La Sierra is essential viewing for anyone who ponied up for the aestheticized amorality of the Brazilian "City of God."
40
Result is a loose personal piece of reportage that places people over ideas and larger issues, and reveals the pic's severe limitations long before a surprisingly upbeat ending.
75
The tragic victims in "City of God" are played by actors while those in La Sierra are flesh-and-blood real.