Being homeless is dangerous wherever you live. But in Brazil, as first-time director José Padilha reveals in his documentary, Bus 174, it's even more likely to be lethal.
About Sandro, a young prison escapee who hijacked a bus four years ago, Bus 174 follows one of the most-documented hostage situations ever there was around 21 hours of TV footage for the five-hour standoff. Due to police underfunding and mismanagement, political interference and the fact that the situation was being broadcast live, a unique standoff occurred, where both police and the media were so close to the hostage victims as to be able to touch hands with them through the windows of the bus.
Padilha tells the story as if it were a thriller, interspersing Bus 174 with the story of Sandro's sordid life: from leaving home at the age of 8 after witnessing his mother's murder, to surviving the 1993 Candelabrian Street Kids Massacre, to drug addiction and incarceration, to his desperate search for recognition.
As much an emotive story of one doomed youth as it is an indictment of Brazil's horrific correctional facilities, corrupt police and cultural indifference towards 'the invisible street kids who inevitably confront us with their violence', Bus 174 is a powerful ride.***½/*****
About Sandro, a young prison escapee who hijacked a bus four years ago, Bus 174 follows one of the most-documented hostage situations ever there was around 21 hours of TV footage for the five-hour standoff. Due to police underfunding and mismanagement, political interference and the fact that the situation was being broadcast live, a unique standoff occurred, where both police and the media were so close to the hostage victims as to be able to touch hands with them through the windows of the bus.
Padilha tells the story as if it were a thriller, interspersing Bus 174 with the story of Sandro's sordid life: from leaving home at the age of 8 after witnessing his mother's murder, to surviving the 1993 Candelabrian Street Kids Massacre, to drug addiction and incarceration, to his desperate search for recognition.
As much an emotive story of one doomed youth as it is an indictment of Brazil's horrific correctional facilities, corrupt police and cultural indifference towards 'the invisible street kids who inevitably confront us with their violence', Bus 174 is a powerful ride.***½/*****