"ônibus 174"

Storefront for Art and Architecture Film Series- O Morro
2007.12.18

This film (Bus 174) documents the hijacking of a bus in Rio de Janeiro in 2000, through TV and original footage, including interviews; it opens discussion on many sociological problems in Brasil, specifically for homeless children in Rio de Janeiro. The issue of the overcrowded, poorly administered prison system in Brasil, specifically Rio, was thoroughly covered, ranging from the decrepit conditions of prisons in Rio, to the unabashed beating of inmates by guards (even in the juvenile delinquent halls), the inability of the system to reform criminals (to the point of enraging them even more through mistreatment to make them more vicious than they were before, if that was even the case), and the lack of security within these prisons (prisoners routinely escape).

Another issue is the story of the "crianças de rua", or street children. These kids run away from home, or are left without parents for one reason or another, and roam the streets of the city fending for themselves. They gang up with others and try to survive through any means possible,taking to begging, selling candy at stoplights, doing circus tricks for money at the beach, stealing, etc. They sometimes get hooked on sniffing glue and cocaine, as with the protagonist in this film, and often have no prospects of life without anyone's guidance or love. The events on the bus relate back to a previous massacre at Candelária church in the center of the city, where 8 children seeking shelter were murdered by policemen trying to exert their authority.

The police are involved in these previous issues, but the center of the next discussion. The inability of the policemen to do anything during the whole time of the hostage situation was appaling at best. They failed to secure a perimeter around the bus, did not try to get a good psychological profile on the criminal (who had a long history of emotional problems/drug behavior, stemming from the brutal murder of his mother before his eyes), did not try to disarm him or take out his shooting arm in the numerous occasions when they had the chance, shot one of the hostages by mistake (probably delivering the fatal blow), almost allowed the oncoming crowd to lynch the hostage taker when he exited the bus (perpetuating violence), and finalized their blunders while taking the man back to the precinct. The undertraining, underpaying, and undersupplying (though these supplies would probably be sold to drug gangs in the favelas by corrupts cops) poice forces of Rio and Brasil are asked to be constantly active and go on numerous missions a month, but they are not in any way ready to do so. Did I mention underreducated? corrupt? the list goes on...


The film was directed by José Padilha & Felipe Lacerda, and produced by Video Filmes/O2 Filmes. These production houses tend to push important socioeconomic issues to the forefront of Brazilian consciousness, often in conjunction with inovative cinematography. In this case, they had some frightening shots of the actual botched robbery turned hostage situation. Except wait! Some of that video footage, supposedly taken directly from reporting video crews, were actually filmed with actors in order to get the best shots, and connect some dots a bit more clearly in the story. SO is this still a documentary? This was the question our host, Daniel Perlin (an American artist who has done a lot of work with O2), posed to us. The intertwining of "factual footage" and "fictional footage" seamlessly creates an alternate reality, one that perhaps elucidates the points of emphasis of the documentary, in ways that purely "real" material would fall short. Instead of being presented with facts, one is presented with facts contextualized by emotions. Sure, the filmmaker has an agenda at hand and tries to push this while filling in the blanks, but this can be done in the way a documentary makes edits any film. I believe this format of documentary engages the viewer much more in the story; regardless of whether or not he may be fed somewhat weighted information, it is still information. Having more of an emotional investment in the film, the viewer will be more inclined to become better informed on the topic at hand, where he may debunk any myths created by the EVIL filmmaker.

This movie is HEAVY, but it rocks!
Thank you Daniel and Storefront!
Let's hope these issues gain more visibility in the future...