Bus 174

The way it alternated between real footage of the hostage situation and the backstory of Sandro's horrendous childhood and life on the streets was perfection. You felt so bad for the hostages on the bus, but at the same time, you couldn't completely fault the guy who was holding them captive. It really gave an interesting perspective. If there wasn't the constant back and forth, it would be so easy to hate him. Great and incredibly important documentary - pure insanity, eye-opening.

A rather unique documentary in the way it weaves interviews with not only footage of the central crime at hand, but also of the criminal's youth. In doing so, the film becomes less about the hijacking as an event but instead about the social and political circumstances that allowed such an event to occur. There are many perspectives here, the police, the bystanders, the hostages, other criminals, and people who knew the hostage taker, and all of them seem perfectly sincere and understandable.

An interesting sociological case study, both in exploring how the roots of its subject led to a seemingly inevitable confrontation and the presence of the media affected the final result and perception of the event. Still annoying in how it spells out every detail. In its depiction of how a position in the invisible margins of society can incite violence, find its fictional superior analogue in Crimson Gold.

If you are a citizen of the United States. This film depicts the future of the States as envisioned by the conservatives. Deny children education, health care, jobs, and compassion. Have the non-unionized police shoot them if they do actually make it to adulthood. Bleak, beautifully illustrated.

"Padilha sheds light on numerous social catastrophes and hypocrisies plaguing Rio de Janeiro and the incestuous, complex relationship between real life and reality television." - Ed Gonzalez

This film in my opinion exposes the 'street kids' of Rio and the crime & corruption they cannot escape on a far deeper level than "City of God", and documents their victimization on a much more personal level. The result is chilling. Shots of the city from above and the "any jail in Rio" scenes were absolutely stunning.

This documentary can also be called as the story of yet another Brazilian children who is living on the streets. Well done documentary which won many awards.

I understand why many people seem to like this documentary since it tells a compelling story, but it tells it so poorly that I felt constantly frustrated by its ineptitude. It engages it abrupt, very lengthy digressions the point of which are mystifying. Occasionally it will loop back and make these relevant, but it feels like just about anybody could have told this story in a better fashion.

Gets kinda tedious at times because Brazilians just love the sound of their own voice so they always make the same point 5 times with different words. The most interesting thing (maybe this has changed in the last 15 years) is that despite the incentive of rampant crime, the Brazilian police force are not a militarised, over-trained bunch of trigger-happy psychos, but simply clueless idiots who can't hit a target at point-blank range without killing the hostage. And I'm not sure which is worse.

This wasn't an easy watch. More than just a nail-biting examination of a tragic event, the film paints a bleak and upsetting portrait of a disenchanted youth neglected by the very society that was supposed to look out for them. Padilha's simple yet comprehensive approach is well-suited here, mixing gripping news footage, present-day aerial shots and candid interviews to powerful effect. Bound to haunt you for quite a while after you've seen it.

About an hour too long. We got the revelation early on that this event is the embodiment of poverty striking out, which, with the chain of events & a trimmed backstory is all we needed. Really, it's an over-population/ family planning issue combined with staggering corruption within leadership and generally weak governance. For me, this completes the tetralogy defining Brazil's zeitgeist close to & around the turn of the century including Bus 174, City of God, Manda Bala & the Rio Olympics.

Very confronting and up-close doco, it's like I'm on a gore site! This doco is without condemnation, showing how incredibly unjust and horrible Sandro's (and many, many, many others) life was. One of those blood-boiling documentaries that'll make you hate the world -- hooray!

Thrilling documentary with beautiful helicopter shots of Rio de Janeiro, so you can escape the misery of the favelas.

Terrifying, tragic, depressing. I was at the edge of my seat. Terrible what happened, both to the victims and Sandro. What an unfair life he had, I thought it was quite unfair.. He was 'invisible' to society

This documentary gave me a sense of how a Stockholm Syndrome feels like

Poignant and haunting, 174 refuses to make judgments or choose sides, while says painful things about society: Sandro isn't a monster, but a man raised by an indifferent and irresponsible state. An indifferent and irresponsible people.

Horrifying, almost unbearable dissection of a tragic event and of the profound social problems that led to it.

Much much muuuch too long! Otherwise it's an important documentary to show the cruel reality of today's society.

a tragic day in a very tragic life.....recommended.

Powerful and important, with some great footage.

Excellent documentary.

Unsettling, unbelievable true story. The footage will stun you.