Don't Believe the Hype

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Having a good subject often already is half of the work, for any documentary. This movie has a pretty good and intriguing subject, that besides does a good job at exploring and dissecting its subject thoroughly, from as many different angles as possible.It's not simply a documentary that tries to tell things as they happened but also one that goes deeper into things and explores the background of those involved. It gives the documentary multiple layers and also plenty of depth.It's one that shows how acts have consequences and how a vicious circle can have great consequences, when it keeps spiraling down. It perfectly shows the situation in Brazil at the time and puts the finger on the sore spots. It criticizes but without condemning anyone. It's a real fair documentary in about every way imaginable; to the police, to the hostages, to the hostage taker and everybody in between, that was in one way or another linked to the events or to the people involved with it. It tries to create an understanding for all of the different sides involved and most of the time it succeeds at this.It's what makes this a very compelling documentary, that is giving you a lot of inside information and makes you look differently at this particular event and maybe just even crime and violence in general and the involvement of the media.It's a documentary that uses both real archive footage of the hostage situation as well as freshly shot interviews with some of the people involved. There is a good balance between these two different things and the archive footage strengthens the interviews and vice versa as well. It doesn't really mater if you already were familiar with the subject of this movie or not. If you weren't; it's giving you all of the information you need and if you were; it's giving you lots of new stuff to ponder about and perhaps makes you even look at it differently, even if you already had a very strong, preset, opinion towards it.Simply a good documentary that handles its subject very well and interesting.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is a commendable, compelling Brazilian Documentary about a kidnap stand off with the police, when a man takes a hostage at gunpoint on a bus. It is 2 hours long and works both as a documentary and drama-esque film.In 2000, Sandro di Nascimento is probably high off drugs and ends up taking hostages on a Bus in Rio, Brazil. This stand-off with surrounding police lasts all evening, as he threatens to kill passengers at 6pm. TV crews and untrained police forces swarm around the vehicle, waiting for developments and their chance to intervene. All of the TV footage is used, mixing it in with an interesting and shocking history on Sandro's past, living as an orphaned street child in Rio amongst poverty and crime. 35 Million viewers watched this shocking scene as the hijack hostage situation was broadcast live.This award winning documentary film, uncut for DVD release, is over 2 hours long and so can get a bit testing, but it is a commendable insight into Brazil and the shocking events that occurred there in 2000. The ending and story is also shocking and makes the piece of film powerful and poignant.

....shouts Sandro, the central character, to the voyeuristic TV cameras, as his real-life predicament spirals towards its tragic and brutal denouement.And he's right - this film is far more compelling and dramatic than any Hollywood product - also far more poignant and touching.Director Padhila shows extraordinary skill in building the story to an unforgettable climax. When I watched this movie at a Manchester cinema, there were only 30 or so people in the theatre - but the silence at the close of the film was astonishing. The entire audience walked out in stunned speechlessness.If you were impressed by "City of God", check out this slice of real life from Rio de Janiero - a world-class piece of documentary-making, and a stinging indictment of the divisions that scar Brazilian society.

In June 2000 a young man tried to rob a bus in Rio de Janeiro and ended up in a hostage situation as the police SWAT team surrounded the bus. However the police at first fail to control the situation, allowing crowds of the public and the media to gather right outside the bus – putting the story at the top of every channel's output. The police gradually bring the situation outside under control but inside the pressure cooker of the bus things are only getting worse as the young man demands grenades, a rifle and a driver for the bus before starting to set deadlines for killing the passengers one by one.I had never heard this story before watching this film so I had no idea where it was going or how it would end; in a way I suppose this makes it more engaging for me as a viewer because the main story was as good as the back story (the latter being the main thrust of the film). The opening credits sees the camera moving from the rich side of Rio down into the crowded and heaving slums and this start pretty much lays out the groundwork for a film that aims to highlight the total failure of any system in Brazil to deal with the rich/poor divide – a divide that is extreme beyond understanding. The main action on the bus is interesting but what the film does well is to build on this by looking at the background of Sandro – a background that is not uncommon among street kids. It deals with a complex range of issues and it poses many questions of the authorities.It is not cheerful viewing because it can find no answers and it can find nothing here to give hope for the future. The social work system fails but the real failure highlighted here is the legal system and the police. The response to the bus hijacking is a shambles which ends badly due to the police and allegedly ends with them murdering Sandro in the back of the police van – a crime which the jury found them innocent of. The point that nobody seems to care for the disenfranchised poor is further hammered home with startling footage of the prisons and a history of the Candelária massacre. The final credits shows that nothing really has happened and certainly a scan of the newspapers online suggest that not much has changed in the last six years. The contributions are mostly very good and everyone is pretty honest however the uses the archive footage to very good effect to present the hostage situation while also expanding the discussion to look beyond it.Overall then this is not a film to come to if you are looking for a fun night in. However it is a fascinating documentary that starts with one compelling event and uses it to look at the wider problems inherent in Rio's problems. Those that found City of God riveting should watch this as it does the job just as well but does it by raising the debate above street level and exposes the system failures that condemn poor to death or even brings it to them as the norm. Fascinating stuff but about as downbeat and hopeless as you could imagine.