Hey folks, Harry here... Kentrel got a chance to check out the Brazilian flick, CARANDIRU. For those that loved CITY OF GOD, here's another example of the cinema of Brazil... a place that is bristling with cinematic activity... Let's see how this one is, and beware of spoilers...

Hey guys

It's not that often that I get to review movies for this site before they've already been reviewed a dozen times already, by people more eloquent and knowledgable people than I. However, I'm happy to be able to review possibly the best film this year so far, and a definite Oscar nominee for 2005....god only 8 months until 2005.. how time flies.

I've never really payed any attention to Brazilian movies before. Not because I didn't think that great movies could be made there, but just that I had never really heard of any great ones. CITY OF GOD changed all that. Wow, did that leave a lasting impression on me. The slick camera movements, the editing, the characters, the scenes of intense violence that you could not turn away from. I was haunted by that film for a long time afterwards. I'm sure my thoughts about it were a lot like most other well off Westerners... "Is it really like that there? God how do they survive throught that?". It is pretty amazing to see how people manage in such conditions. To them, a world without violence is a dream, a distant faraway thought that you dont' dwell on for very long otherwise you might wind up as a victim. CARANDIRU is a movie that at its very core is the theme of survival. In the worst possible conditions. Take the crowds and gangs from CITY OF GOD, put them in your house, shu! t all the doors, all the windows, and lock yourself in with them as all hell breaks loose. That's the feeling you get from this movie.

I'd actually planned on seeing HIDALGO that night but wisely changed my mind. I can see movies for free at my local multiplex and they're pretty good for showing foreign movies, which is why I rarely ever travel to the arthouse cinema in my city. Not just because of that, but bizarrely, every time I'm there the audiences are far far more badly behaved than in the multiplex. You would expect better from a cinema that's supposed to attract film lovers but I've had to tell someone to shut the fuck up every single time I've been there, and hardly ever when I'm in the big old multiplex. Sadly, I wish that wasn't true because the arthouse is such a cool place to watch films.

So when we were led to the screening room by the usher my face fell... the screening room was tiny and the seats were such that you had to spread your legs like a whore just to stop squeezing the seat in front of you, and worse than that the crowd were a noisy bunch of cunts. However, this was probably the perfect environment in which to watch a movie set in an overcrowded noisy prison. It was only part of what this film experience was going to throw at us.

It opens up in Carandiru, the prison in Sao Paulo built for 3000 inmates, but holding over 7000. It's the true story of Dr Drauzio Varella who worked in the prison and made friends with many of the inmates. The first half the movie deals with his encounters with the prisoners as he listens to their stories of their lives prior to coming to prison, and how they eventually got caught.. Many of these stories are extremely heartwarming and funny and you really can't help liking these prisoners. They might be thieves and murderers, but I did find myself taking the Doctor's position that yes they are, but they're human too. Maybe what they did was wrong but that doesn't take away their humanity.

There are many story threads throughout which are expertly handled. None of the prisoners are stereotypes, they're all fully fleshed out characters and you never lose track of who's who despite the sheer numbers of people who have significant scenes. Every character is memorable, and most are sympathetic, if not down right likeable. They seem resigned to their fate in prison, and their goals are to survive, to enjoy and protect what little they have.

One of the amazing things about this film is just how many people are crammed into this tiny shithole. Some cells contain a dozen prisoners, some lucky to have bunks, the others sleeping on hard concrete floor. However within the prison there is a huge community feeling. A damn violent one, but a community nonetheless. This is a prison where you can get pretty much anything you want, drugs, tv's,stereos, sex, and even the kind of married couples prisons and George W. Bush are famous for, but not necessarily for the same reasons. Cells are often well decorated and you can instantly get a feel for a group of characters simply from how they've arranged their cells.. Despite the general poverty of the population the prisoners are very resourceful within their low security confines. One cell contains at least 6 tv's that I could count plus a couple of stereos and I'm sure I saw a guitar there somewhere.

I'm trying to avoid describing much of the plot because like most multi-threaded movies it's a difficult one to describe without having to describe every other story that connects with it, but just believe me when I say that there isn't a dull moment. The characters, internal and external politics, arguments, revenge, drugs, gang warfare all interconnect with each other pushing the plot along at an amazing pace. While oftentimes very very funny it starts to take a very dark turn halfway through leading to some of the most intense scenes of violence I've seen on screen.

The noisy bunch of cunts that populated my screening didn't make a peep throughout much of the tense stuff, broken only by genuine gasps of horror that I was surprised to find myself making (and I've seen ICHI THE KILLER). There is a moment where one character in a moment of insanity, from drugs, boils a pot of water and takes it over to his cellmate, his foster brother, the kid who saved his life years ago, who killed the guys the raped his girlfriend while he was in jail, and who has been trying to save his life again now that he's come to prison, and try and convince him to give up drugs. The moment he lifts the pot of water, and looks to his sleeping brother with that look of quiet determination the whole audience gasped in dread of what was about to happen. All I could hear around me was "Oh God no". It was one of those moments of real life horror that cinema rarely offers in it's often cherry coated fictional style.

The story and characters eventually spiral into places you don't want to go leading to a climax that feels too real to be comfortable to watch yet too fascinating to turn away from. Blood spills from every nook, cranny and rat's corner until it's literally flowing in the corridors. Bodies lie everywhere. Prisoners who only want to be treated as human beings are subjected to the worst inhumanity that a government can inflict on it's people.

This film will haunt you for far longer than CITY OF GOD. It's so much better. While I loved City, it's slick editing, while very cool, did distance me slightly from the action and made it feel less real than it could have been, while in CARANDIRU Hector Babenco's camera lingers on his characters, rarely using short cuts, and just showing you the harsh realities and truths of this hell on earth. He doesn't shy away from showing you graphic scenes of poverty, violence and inhumanity. There is a more a realistic feel here, not exactly documentary, but not exactly a fictional movie either. It contains the humour of real life, but you're also going to see real life at it's worst, and it's most inhumane. The thought provoking richness of this story leads me to wonder what else Brazil can offer to world cinema. This is a superb example of just bloody great storytelling.

It's on very limited release in the UK at the moment, but amongst my friends word of mouth is already quickly spreading and I hope it is elsewhere. It opens in the US next month and I urge any true film fan to see this. It's already top of my list for this year.

- Kentrel