In June of 2000, a young homeless man, evidently high on drugs, made a failed attempt to rob a bus in a wealthy Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. When his plans went awry, the young man, Sandro do Nascimento, armed with a pistol, took the bus passengers hostage. Soon, cops and reporters surrounded the bus. A SWAT team arrived. About four hours later, the incident came to a horrific and tragic end. Filmmaker José Padilha's documentary, Bus 174, explores the events of that day. The film uses a great deal of file footage of the event, in addition to interviews with hostages, policemen, reporters, and others connected to the incident and to the unstable and desperate young man at its center. The filmmakers explore social conditions in the city, along with the personal traumas that led Sandro to his desperate act. As a child, Sandro had witnessed the brutal murder of his mother, and had subsequently found himself on the streets at an early age. In 1993, he survived the infamous massacre of homeless youths at Candelária, which is widely thought to have been committed by police officers. Sandro was also imprisoned at a youth facility, and in a city jail, and the appalling conditions in those prisons are also depicted in the film. Bus 174 was shown at New Directors/New Films in 2003. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
Bus 174 is an intensely powerful and insightful documentary that explores the conditions that led to an armed siege on a Rio bus in June of 2000, and, through the use of stunning news footage, depicts the event itself in painstaking detail. Apparently modeled after Kevin Macdonald's "documentary thriller,"
One Day in September, Bus 174 pulls out all the stops, using ominous music and camera effects to create an air of menace and dread. There's a brilliant opening helicopter shot, soaring over Rio de Janeiro's beaches and wealthy neighborhoods before plunging from a lush forest into the squalor of a huge
favela. The film works because all of the technique serves an incredible story. As we watch the crisis unfolds, filmmaker José Padilha examines every aspect of the situation, from the incompetence of the police to the mindset of the young women who were held hostage on the bus. Most importantly, he provides the context for gunman Sandro do Nascimento's desperate act. Bus 174 uncovers the dark underside of Rio's social fabric, uncovering the crime, poverty, racism, and brutality that put do Nascimento in a position where he felt that he had no way out. Fast-paced, insightful, and powerful--a fitting companion piece to
Fernando Meirelles'
City of God--Bus 174 is the work of a filmmaker, not only of tremendous talent, but also of conscience. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide