Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a housing project built in the 1960s that--in the early 80s--became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro. The tale tells the stories of many characters whose lives sometimes intersect. However, all is seen through the eyes of a singular narrator: Buscap�, a poor black youth too frail and scared to become an outlaw but also to smart to be content with underpaid, menial jobs. He grows up in a very violent environment. The odds are all against him. But Buscap� soon discovers that he can see reality differently than others. His redemption is that hes been given an artists point of view as a keen-eyed photographer. As Buscap� is not the real protagonist of the film--only the narrator--he is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the sequence of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story, but it is also through Buscap�s perspective of life that one can understand the complicated layers and humanity of a world, apparently condemned to endless violence.