Since its premiere in 2002, City of God has been celebrated for its stylish yet realistic portrayal of crime in Rio de Janeiro's favelas, but there has also been some confusion about whether the movie is actually based on a true story. Co-directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, City of God is a landmark of Brazilian cinema that achieved global success. Decades later, it's still one of the country's highest-grossing movies of all time, and it remains tied for the most Oscar nominations for a Brazilian production. At the 2004 Academy Awards, the movie was up for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.

Originally titled Cidade de Deus in its native Portuguese, City of God is a coming-of-age crime drama set in the titular favela over a time span from the late 1960s and to the early 1980s. The movie's protagonist, Rocket, is a young man with...