AllMovie

Bus 174 is an intensely powerful and insightful documentary that explores the conditions that led to an armed siege on a Rio bus in June of 2000, and, through the use of stunning news footage, depicts the event itself in painstaking detail. Apparently modeled after Kevin Macdonald's "documentary thriller," One Day in September, Bus 174 pulls out all the stops, using ominous music and camera effects to create an air of menace and dread. There's a brilliant opening helicopter shot, soaring over Rio de Janeiro's beaches and wealthy neighborhoods before plunging from a lush forest into the squalor of a huge favela. The film works because all of the technique serves an incredible story. As we watch the crisis unfolds, filmmaker José Padilha examines every aspect of the situation, from the incompetence of the police to the mindset of the young women who were held hostage on the bus. Most importantly, he provides the context for gunman Sandro do Nascimento's desperate act. Bus 174 uncovers the dark underside of Rio's social fabric, uncovering the crime, poverty, racism, and brutality that put do Nascimento in a position where he felt that he had no way out. Fast-paced, insightful, and powerful--a fitting companion piece to Fernando Meirelles' City of God--Bus 174 is the work of a filmmaker, not only of tremendous talent, but also of conscience.