Review #679: 'Bus 174' (2002)

On June 12th, 2000, a young man named Sandro Rosa do Nascimento hijacked a bus in Rio de Janeiro with the intention of robbing the passengers inside. When one of the passengers notified a police car, the bus was intercepted and Sandro took all the passengers hostage, armed with a .38 caliber revolver. Soon enough, the bus - Omnibus 174 - was a media frenzy, with everything being broadcast live to the watching public. What ensued was not only a sign of the ineptitude of the Rio police force, but an insight into one of the most serious societal problems in Brazil - the invisible homeless.

Sandro's story began years before the events of Jose Padilha and Felipe Lacerda's documentary Bus 1974. Through friends and witnesses, we learn about Sandro's childhood as he witnessed several horrific acts, such as the murder of his mother in front of his very eyes, and the events of the Candelaria massacre which saw the murder of eight homeless children by men thought to be police officers. But we also learn how the homeless in Rio de Janeiro are simply ignored by citizens. This abandonment by your own society can cause serious psychological defects, that lead the homeless to feel they have no place in the world.

We get a real insight into how Rio de Janeiro treats their lowest of citizens (the prisoners) in a stand-out scene which I never wish to see again. Turning the image into negative to somehow try and shield us from the true horror, the camera pans alongside a tiny prison cell that holds between 40-50 prisoners. They each have their own unique story, which they rant to camera. They are forced to take turns to stand up and lie down, to piss and shit where they eat, causing disease to spread like wildfire, and all in 100 degree heat. This is not a place interested in rehabilitation.

This is documentary film-making at it's most thrilling and disheartening. The hostage situation plays out like a check-list of police malpractice and ill-preparation. At one point, Sandro shoots at the ground, feigning the execution of a hostage, and then hangs his head out of the window to tell the police what he has done. Many times this happens, still the police do not take him out. The same year saw the release of City of God, a super-stylised account of Brazil's ghettos, so it appears that Brazil was turning an big eye on itself and its societal problems. At 150 minutes, this is a long and detailed documentary that tends to repeat itself every so often or draw out an event in the hostage crisis, but Bus 174 will no doubt leave you moved and, more importantly, angry.


Directed by: José Padilha, Felipe Lacerda
Starring: Sandro Do Nascimento
Country: Brazil

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie