Parents' Guide to City of Men

City of Men is an affecting blend of action movie, coming-of-age tale, and family melodrama. It's billed as a companion piece to Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund's brilliant, thrilling City of God, which was an art-house sensation when it came to the United States in 2002. The new film actually draws from characters developed in that film's inspiration, the mesmerizing, same-named Brazilian TV series -- which explains how City of Men is able to include scenes of Ace and Wallace as kids. These images show how their friendship has endured during years of bouncing around in impoverished neighborhoods where boys become men by wielding guns and claiming territory.

While Paulo Morelli's movie isn't as kinetic as City of God, it offers an equally fascinating look at kids' emotional lives and moral choices and their struggles to think beyond their apparent fates. Ace's anxieties about fathering are reflected in Wallace's reunion with his own dad; quickly enamored of the idea of having a father, Wallace imagines an existence apart from the gangs -- just as long-simmering tensions erupt into full-on street battles. The kids on the periphery, like Ace and Wallace, are trapped. Equipped with artillery and hand-drawn maps, the teams take over the alleys and rooftops as civilians hide. But for all its tragedy and brutality, City of Men is shaped by the uneven, difficult rhythms of fathers and sons and the boys' determination to connect across years of pain and legacies of revenge.