Bus 174

Brazil 2002, 118 minutes
Dir. José Padilha
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Rating: [R]
Genres: Documentary / Hostages & Terrorism, Sociology

Topics: Media.

Aroview: A riveting analysis of an incident in Rio de Janeiro in June 2000 in which a lone, desperate gunman held hostage the passengers of a bus, while the entire event was broadcast live on state television.

By foregrounding the actual televised footage with background information about the assailant, the film-makers draw a clearer distinction between what is reality (TV) and what is 'truth', citing complicity in the media, the government, enforcement authorities, and society at large for the resultant tragedy.

One critic nailed it by saying that it is "most remarkable for doing what TV news and action films do not: delivering the details as part of a larger investigation of how terror is bred by neglect.”

NZ International Film Festival 2003