Megacities

This movie documents the lives of the poor and social outcasts in four mega-cities of the world - Mumbai-India, Moscow-Russia, Mexico City-Mexic and New York-USA.

Some of the scenes makes your skin crawl, like the scene where scavengers are wading through an open sewer and the stripper being groped in a peep show club.

Some of the scenes were deeply personal and extremely disturbing.

But the movie had a very acid-wit ending when the credits rolled. In Bollywood movies, you have scenes where there are lots of good looking actors doing a Bangra dance in beautiful landscaped backgrounds. But here the, director got a nicely choreographed Bangra, except instead of a lovely landscaped garden in the background, we have a massive landfill, extending all the way to the horizon, and instead of nicely dressed good looking actors, there are the ordinary, poor, dirty workers and students who live their lives in this terrible place... yet they dance well :)

I haven't seen lots of documentaries, but this was one of the best ones I've seen in years. The film portrays the poor, homeless, and drug addicted citizens of Bombay, Mexico City, Moscow and New York City. Some scenes are so realistic that I wondered how they were shot - e.g. some of the scenes with the heroin addict in New York City.

Seeing a film like this also makes you realize how many people's stories do not get told by Hollywood films. When is the last time you saw some mass marketed film about a mother who strip dances to feed her children? Or a man who shakes different colored paint through a sieve for a living? The only other film I can think of like this was Hoop Dreams, but that at least dealt with young people with a chance to make something of their lives. Megacities deals with those who didn't make it and never will.

Yet some scenes aren't completely depressing. There's a DJ in New York City, asking his listeners to describe how they survive in the city. There are children in India who take turns watching an Indian soap opera. Finally and most disgusting, there's a scene with a whole barrel full of chickens whose necks have been broken and throats slashed but yet still move around and splatter their blood against the wall.

I'm surprised that so few people have seen (and thus voted) this film, especially considering it won awards in three continents. If you get a chance to see it, do, but be forewarned of its vividness.

10/10

Nice one, though at the beginning of the film it's hard to keep up with the subtitles and the images at the same times.

The scene of the chickens being left to die brought shivers down my spine. It makes me think twice about eating chickens.

After reading the other comments and reviews I have been expecting something like Kooyanisquatsi, Powaquatsi or Baraka, and I think that might have been the intention or ambition of the filmmaker. But, oh my, he failed big time. This is exploitation all the way. It´s completely staged and directed, and it suits itself by showing images of violence poverty and selfdegradation. He never comes even close to the real issues of Megacities in our time ( so he leaves out Tokyo for example- not enough poverty and crime there, I think). It reminded me fatally of the Italian exploitative documentaries of the 60s ( for example Mondo Cane by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, who also staged everything they depicted in their films). So even his approach is not at all new or original. And like the Italians he seems to look down on people in a way you might call fascist, but everyone should judge for himself. So, if you watch it, do not take it too seriously. It´s not worth it, at all!!

I cannot agree with the gentleman from Mannheim finding this movie exploitive and staged. Sure there were many scenes "staged" but certainly the "Truth" of it all spoke for itself. A better title perhaps would have been "Hell on Earth and the human condition", but that's OK. Mumbai, Moscow, Mexcico City and New York City, they all lend themselves for the study of the every day, for the every day poor and wretched. I have lived in Delhi for almost 3 years, but seeing Mumbai in this movie, in this way, was almost worse than being there myself. But in the end, after having seen the madness of the three other places, India seemed almost harmless again. Every viewer brings his own history, prejudices, expectations and stories to a new movie, but I am sure this one will really make a lasting impression.