Bus 174 (2002)
Zazen Produções

Description

A shocking, hypnotic look at a real-life disaster. In June 2000, an armed gunman hijacked a bus in downtown Rio de Janeiro. An angry, strung-out former street kid, he spent an afternoon threatening his hostages while the lurid drama was broadcast live over the national TV networks. The extensive newsreel footage from this terrible event forms the bulk of Bus 174, but director Jose Padilha takes time to fill in the background, too: the poverty-broken world of the gunmen is detailed, and so is the political situation that led to some ludicrous decision-making on the part of the authorities during the siege.

Collected reviews and ratings

10 BBC | Jamie Russell

A stunning indictment of Brazil's social meltdown, this startling documentary plays like City Of God - except this time the bullets are real.
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10 filmcritic.com | Chris Barsanti

In the end, it isn’t an action movie, and it isn’t just another true-crime documentary; Bus 174 stands alone as a cold, sad requiem for a generation of the lost.
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9.0 Amazon user reviews

It is a breathtaking documentary that's ending is totally unpredictable and will definately leave you with a lot to think about.
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8.0 Variety | Deborah Young

Using TV footage intercut with interviews of hostages, police, relatives, social workers and even a masked "professional assailant" who knew the hijacker, director Jose Padilha has crafted "Bus 174," a tense documentary with multiple layers of meaning.
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8.0 DVD Times | James Gray

He has made an absorbing, if clinical, documentary, one that it is important a wider audience sees.
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