How is the chicken used as a metaphor in the opening sequence of City of God?

In the opening sequence of City Of God, the genre is established very quickly as the audience can clearly see that the film is an action movie. The opening sequence starts off with an extreme close up of a blade being sharpened on a rock which signifies danger; whilst this is happening the camera cuts to the knife being sharpened then back to a blank screen continuously. The audience hardly see the blade being sharpened but they hear the sound of the blade being sharpened which is a diegetic sound and that gives the audience suspense and makes them puzzled as they don’t know what the blade is being sharpened for.

Everything in the opening is very quick paced. The editing is very quick and flashy which makes viewers confused. After the blade sharpening, viewers hear a diegetic sound of people drumming however it’s not on the screen. The drumming is in a brazilian style which makes viewers think that the film is set in Brazil. The audience then see an extreme close-up of carrots being pealed and several close-ups of chickens feathers being plucked and being slaughtered. At this point of the opening sequence, the audience discover that the blade was being sharpened to slaughter chickens. In one of the shots of the chicken, it displays how the chicken is truly feeling. The chicken looks very panicky and tense as it can see its fellow chickens being slaughtered. A close up of a chicken escaping into an alleyway is then revealed. The chicken chase can be seen as a metaphor signifying how hard life in the brazilian slums can be. As the chicken is escaping, a close of a black man is presented. The man says speaking in Portuguese “f*** the chicken got away, get it!”.

Then there is a long shot of a gang shown with guns; this perhaps shows that the man is a group leader of a gang who is armed. As the chicken is still escaping, numerous of extreme close ups of the man laughing is shown; he's potrayed as crazy in these shots. Then a crosscutting shot appears of a young boy who talks about wanting to be photographer to his friend and how risky the shot he has to take to become a photographer is. He then comes across the man and his gang chasing the chicken eventually to the middle of the road. As the man and his gang is chasing the chicken, a person comes in his way and he pushes the person down, pulls out his gun and threatens to kill them. This shows the audience how dominant the man.

The man tells the photographer to grab the chicken who is in the middle of the road. As photographer is trying to get the chicken police pull up behind him. One of the gang members say “oh s*** the police”. A long shot of people running is shown. The man orders his gang to not run off and they all point their guns out, ready to use at the police officers who is behind the photographer. There are several close-ups of the gang members and the photographer and a panning shot giving viewers an overview of the setting.  The young photographer is in the middle of all this and doesn’t know what to do; he says “if I run I die and if I stay I die. At that point, the audience know that this young boy is the protagonist.