Bus 174 (2003)

(Originally published in Rocky Mountain Bullhorn)

On June 12th, 2000, a young, frazzled man took a bus and its eleven passengers hostage in Rio de Janeiro, sparking a standoff that became the focus of Felipe Lacerda and José Padilha’s masterful documentary Bus 174. The gunman, Sandro do Nascimento, was one of Brazil’s “street kids” – a teeming population of homeless children – and Lacerda and Padilha’s film makes a stunning case against a crumbling Brazilian society in which abusive cops, a cruel criminal justice system, and widespread prejudice helps foster a youthful underclass driven to violence, theft and murder. Bolstered by extensive news footage of the tense situation and candid interviews with many of those who had crossed Sandro’s path, this outstanding documentary never absolves Sandro of culpability in the hostage situation, but its lasting, heartbreaking power comes from its blistering indictment of a police force that helped give birth to a monster, and then tragically failed to destroy him.