Cultural Globalization Is Not Americanization

By PHILIPPE LEGRAIN

"Listen man, I smoke, I snort ... I've been begging on the street since I was just a baby. I've cleaned windshields at stoplights. I've polished shoes, I've robbed, I've killed. ... I ain't no kid, no way. I'm a real man."

Such searing dialogue has helped make City of God a global hit. A chronicle of three decades of gang wars, it has proved compelling viewing for audiences worldwide. Critics compare it to Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

If you believe the cultural pessimists,