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Gelogurte on BUS 174!
Hey folks, Harry here with a look at BUS 174, a documentary about violence in the midst of Rio De Janeiro and I have to say... This sounds amazing. Here's hoping it every plays over here. Here ya go....
Dear Harry and Moriarty,
Gelogurte from brasilian website www.agalaxia.com.br again. How are you guys doing today?
I heard the documentary Bus 174 was finally getting released in the US. I don't know if you saw it but I know it will be screened at Sundance. You should really check it out if you have a chance.
Bus 174 is a movie about violence. About crime and how someone becomes a criminal. It's a violent look at the life of Sandro do Nascimento, a small time criminal that once hijacked a city bus in the middle of Rio de Janeiro. How he made the brazilian police officers look like fools for a whole afternoon.
It's a true story, of course. It's made of interviews with eyewitnessess, police officers, social workers and people who knew Sandro, and lots and lots of television footage that were broadcast live for the four and a half hours while Sandro was in that bus. At the same time, like parallel stories, they use interviews and photographs to show the rough and poor childhood of Sandro in a very bad neighborhood in Rio. How his mother got killed when he was just a little boy and end up living in the streets after that. He never knew his father and couldn't stand living with his aunt and cousins.
Besides that, it shows how inconpetent brazilian authorities can be. I don't know if you know the end of this story but I cant tell you, it's not pretty. And the worst of all is that the movie shows that it wasn't Sandro's or the cops fault (well, some of it was the cops fault), but society's. It's an ugly wound at brazilian's pride and director Jose Padilha makes a wonderful job sticking a needle into it and poking it until it gets infected. It shows that the world (or at least Brazil) is a toilet and that it's all our fault. It made me think about what I am and what I could be,
I tell you now that I come from a good family. I always had a roof over my head. I always had food on the table. Hell, I have my own DVD player in my bedroom, with a big TV and a nice stereo system. And I love comics. And for a long time I thought people were criminals, well... because they were bad. Because they didn't want to work or they couldn't find work so they would steal and kill. Well, that's a little truth in that. But this movie shows that it's our fault. That we turn our backs on people before they turn bad. And I could never see crime the same way again.
True story: a few months ago this guy robbed me. Surprisingly, he was very polite, very nice. Of course, he had a gun in his hand but he talked to me so friendly, so nicely, I was impressed. I was pissed off too, of course. This guy took my CD Player and something like 10 bucks. But I couldn't stop thinking of Sandro do Nascimento and how the things this guy robbed could be replaced.
The great thing is that Jose Padilha shows everything in such a competent way that you never get bored. It's a tow hour documentary and I thought it would become pretty redundant after the first 45 minutes, but it doesn't. There's this particular scene when Sandro is negotiating his release with one of the cops and I am almost sure that the movie he mentions is Stuart Baird's Executive Decision or Kevin Hooks' Passenger 57 when Sandro says that he would kill one of his hostages and throw him out the bus exactly like "the movie that was on TV last night". It's really interesting because the look in Sandro's face, it's like he is almost happy when he's talking to that cop, like if someone was finally talking to him and treating him with respect. Treating him like a human being.
This movie is great. It's Bowling for Columbine great and everybody should definitly watch it. Because this is not a movie about Brazil or it's violence. This is about human beings in general and how we could all be good if we weren't so selfish most of the time. It made me cry and feel ashamed of myself without ever being sentimental or trying to make you cry or feel ashamed. You just do because it shows life. And the best of all is not once this movie try to give you the answers. But it makes you question everything.
I love this movie with all my heart and soul and I hope that getting a release in the US finally makes it getting a DVD/VHS release. In my town (which sucks in terms of movie theaters by the way) it was playing in only one theater and not for a very long time. But hey, if most people watched the really good movies, we wouldn't even have to worry about McG directing Superman. I still can't believe Warner Bros. is doing this. Charlie's Angels Full Throttle being a complete piece of crap wasn't enough to show WB executives that McHack should never make another movie?
This is Gelogurte from the spaceship Agalaxia signing off.
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Oct 23, 2003 3:05:35 AM CDT
i think i speak for everybody here, when i say "who cares"
by miltonwaddams
burn.
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I watched this in Rio. It was surreal. The film shows clips of these kids juggling balls in the middle of the streets of Copacabana trying to earn some pocket change from drive-by cars. They totally get ignored. I saw these kids everyday while I was there. The exact same kids. I felt pretty guilty to say the least not giving them some change while I was spending wads of cash on gluttenous food and entertainment only yards away. You watch this horrific documentary of Brazilian society (Rio to be specific), and you walk out the theater and you're no more than a mile a way from the street where this incident occured. It was a frightening and sobering experience. If you're a gringo touring Rio de Janeiro, you walk out feeling BAD. You're giving the economy a hand with your spending which is a good thing, but you can't help but feel like shit when you see poverty thrown in your face everywhere you go. This film also takes a glimpse into the horrendous jail system in Brazil. They are treated like animals, literally. 150 degree cells with no lights being crammed with 20 other inmates constantly getting beaten by the jailguards. It's no wonder they would rather die than to go back to jail again. This film is indeed a huge stab into the Brazilian pride.
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...you don't speak for me so shut the hell up.
great review dude. -
Can anyone explain how he could get his sword back after placing it so low as to stand on it? It doesn't show him replacing it, and he couldn't have stuck it that low to begin with. God, I hate continuity flaws that I can't explain.
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Ignore these fools, I thought that was a great review and I'll definately be looking out for this film. Films like these really do throw light on us humans and the disgusting things we can do to each other, which while depressing, is important to know. Check out A Time For Drunken Horses (more of an autobiography but deeply rooted in fact), one of the most sorrowful, beautiful movies I've ever seen. The way you spoke about this doco reminded me of that.
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obviously a lot of people care. i apologize.
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Oh well. Unless we can make this the 'let's not discuss the Matrix spoilers' Talkback. People! come together! City of God is better than 10 Goodfellers. well a couple.
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