Konterr Brilliant and touching

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

tomgillespie2002 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 p**s and s**t 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.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Mike B This is a riveting and intelligent documentary. It would have been interesting if it had just been about the tragic bus hijacking itself with the inept police response and the media carnival atmosphere that existed. But it goes far beyond that. It explains the background as to why this happened. We are given the details of who the hijacker was and his upbringing in the favelas of Brazil. He was orphaned at a young age and lived in the streets with other homeless children. Crime became a way of life, as well as frequent violent episodes with the police.Watch this - it gives an excellent background examination into why bad things happen and then innocent people suffer fatal consequences. It does not portray this as a 10 minute sensationalistic news episode. We can a full 360 degree view of root causes.

prettyh This documentary stood out for me from others of its ilk, because it focuses not just on what happened on a bus one summer day in Brazil, but also reaches into the socioeconomic situation at the time and gives us a real glimpse of why a young man would be driven to take people hostage, and how he felt he had no other options outside of a life of crime.Watching "Bus 174" is like observing a criminal event through a prism. There are countless sides to every element of it. The beauty of Rio de Janeiro is juxtaposed on screen with the horrors as we're taken through the escalation of a hostage situation, all graphically captured by Brazilian TV camera crews. We can see how wide the gulf is between the rich and the poor, even though the lives of each are lived only miles apart in the same city. We are told how inadequately the police force has been trained and equipped to deal with the crime in the city, let alone such a volatile situation. And we're shown how a single bus stopped on a busy thru-way brings an entire city to a screeching halt. With the rich context given to us by the filmmakers, we find ourselves sympathizing with the gunman (Sandro do Nascimento) *and* his hostages. And while we now know how badly it will end, we can't help but hope that somehow Sadro's surrender will be accepted, that he and all of the hostages will make it out unscathed, that history can be rewritten. Tragically, it cannot, and we are shown the moments when lives are lost. We're also left to contemplate how many ways this could have ended differently, and how little it may have taken to do so.Interviews with everyone, from survivors to police personnel to reporters on the scene, as well as people who knew Sandro during his horrific childhood, are very effective in making us feel as though we too were there during that harrowing 4-hour long encounter. Learning about the gunman's tragic history - what he had to survive to reach even the young age he had when this incident ended his life - and how, in the aftermath, police scrambled to re-frame the incident in their favour, add to the viewer's internal conflict. We're not accustomed to experiencing such empathy for both hostage-taker and victim. That is a major strength of this film: we're allowed to see it from all sides, which makes it that much more heartbreaking in the end.This is not for the faint of heart. We're not spared much. But "Bus 174" is a documentary after which others should strive to model themselves. It is truly a must-see, as it comes as close as anything possibly can to answering what we always ask after a tragedy: "Why?"

bubsy-3 Bus 174 is one of the best Documentaries I have ever seen. It is also one of the best "thrillers" I have ever seen.It is the true story of young man who holds those on a bus hostage. Because the television media were at the scene, a major part of the movie is televised live footage of the hijacker and his hostages on the bus. It is riveting to watch. However, in addition, comments from those who knew the hijacker as a child and teenager are included, as well as comments from the police and hostage negotiating team. Also included is footage of the hijacker and his "associates" interviewed earlier in his life.Bus 174 has us asking several questions about the resources available to the poor in Brazil, about the training (or lack of training might be more accurate) of the police and hostage negotiators, about the lack of communication between those involved.But most importantly, this movie is about "S", a real person who we gain a real understanding about. The movie dwells a bit too long on "written history" and while the bus footage is riveting, it may go on too long in the second hour.Since so many television crews were shooting footage, I tend to think that more graphic footage may exist of some of the scenes that those who made the film chose not to use. But this movie was an edge of seat thriller. A chilling documentary of a real life event. I kept wondering how I would have reacted if I were on that bus. And I kept seeing "S" as those on the bus did, a scared young man who only truly wanted to get out alive and not kill anyone. It's ashamed that the police didn't see him that way.