When you realize that ENDING SPOILERS HERE

...the only character who ends up well in the film is an entirely fictitious one. Buscapé (Rocket), who seems to be starting a promising career in the world of journalism at the end of the film, unlike most of the others characters, is not based on any real person and is probably only there so that the audience (reader in the case of the book) has someone to relate to and the film/book doesn't feel like a brutal drama. I guess that tells you a lot about the sad reality all those people endured and many people still live nowadays.
This is not a criticism of the film as City of God is my favorite film ever but a commentary.