Terry's Reviews
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Bus 174 Hart Sharp Video – 2004 Director: José Padilha |
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| "On July 12, 2000 the Rio de Janeiro police
trapped a man who was trying to rob a bus. He took eleven hostages, and the local SWAT
team was called. This incident became known in Brazil as the BUS 174 affair." So begins this powerful documentary about a horrible situation made worse by the reaction of Rio de Janeiro police before and after the incident. The real important point of this documentary is not that Sandro do Nascimento held hostages at gunpoint on a city bus for the length of time he did, but rather the heartbreaking state of life people live on the streets of Brazil. You learn Sandro had endured years of torment from the cops as they beat him, his friends constantly and then treated them worse in jail. Some of his friends were even murdered in what was called Candelaria Church Massacre. Sandro finally had enough and used the hostage situation as an act of revenge. Sociologists, policemen, SWAT members, people in jail cells as well as the others who live on the street are all interviewed to get the multi dimensional scope of what happened in Brazil that made this young man to take such violent action. José Padilha does a thorough job of getting many perspectives and letting us decide for ourselves who the real people are who are responsible. He tries to draw attention to a serious problem that needs to be addressed to prevent this from ever happening again. There isn’t a simple resolution and truthfully things may never change, which makes me respect the courage Padilha has for making this film. The film moves at a deliberate pace and if you have the patience to stay with it, the pay off is emotionally moving. I certainly was captivated by what was happening on the bus and disturbed by what is happening in Brazil. What’s even more frightening is that it is probably happening in many more cities around the world. The DVD comes with two special features, The Making of BUS 174 and Interviews with Hostages and Brazilian Police. I found The Making of BUS 174 particularly interesting as José Padilha steps away from trying to take the glory for the making of this film. He says he shared co-directing credit with his editor because he felt that Felipe Lacerda’s contribution to the making of this film deserved it. He feels that a director collaborates with others and would not have felt right taking the title alone. The interviews tell us how the hostages and police felt and now feel. I found it remarkable that the hostages have tremendous sensitivity for Sandro. It seems as though they understand what caused this young man to act out so irrationally and don’t put the blame on him. They even admit that the longer they were on the bus with Sandro, the more they believed he would never shoot them. BUS 174 is an excellent documentary that deserves to be seen. |
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