Bus 174

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Bus 174

R,

2003,

2h 13m,

Documentary

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Watchlist

96%

77 Reviews

Tomatometer

90%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

77 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

A young Brazilian hijacks a bus in Rio de Janeiro to rob its passengers. When he holds the entire bus hostage, the press broadcasts it live. This documentary chronicles the incompetent response by police officers to the public event that inspired nationwide protest. Included are details about the captor's harsh childhood after witnessing his mother's murder. His homelessness provides but one example of the tragic social and political indifference to urban poverty in modern Brazil.

Critics Consensus

Bus 174 uses real-life tragedy as the grist for a gripping -- and terribly thought-provoking -- look at societal tensions and police violence.

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Amy Taubin

Film Comment Magazine

Apr 10, 2018

Building an indictment of the media, the police, and the provincial governor for placing self-interest above saving lives, Bus 174 opens out from the people directly involved in the incident to an examination of institutionalized poverty.

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Deborah Young

Variety

Jun 10, 2008

A tense documentary with multiple layers of meaning.

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Patrick Z. McGavin

Chicago Reader

May 8, 2007

Padilha allows neither easy answers nor ironic commentary, producing on both sides of the conflict a world of inconsolable grief.

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Feb 16, 2021

Bus 174 is too long because the filmmakers are too timid about making a frontal attack on Brazilian society. Detail becomes a substitute for an open indictment.

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Joe Lozito

Big Picture Big Sound

Dec 27, 2007

4/4

Relentlessly gripping.

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Synopsis

A young Brazilian hijacks a bus in Rio de Janeiro to rob its passengers. When he holds the entire bus hostage, the press broadcasts it live. This documentary chronicles the incompetent response by police officers to the public event that inspired nationwide protest. Included are details about the captor's harsh childhood after witnessing his mother's murder. His homelessness provides but one example of the tragic social and political indifference to urban poverty in modern Brazil.

Director: José Padilha
Producer: José Padilha, Marcos Prado
Screenwriter: Bráulio Mantovani, José Padilha
Distributor: ThinkFilm
Production Co: THINKFilm, Zazen Producoes, Metrodome Distribution, New Yorker Films
Rating: R (Language|Violent Images|Some Drug Material)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 8, 2003, Original
Release Date (DVD): Jul 20, 2004
Box Office (Gross USA): $216.2K
Runtime: 2h 13m
Sound Mix: Surround

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