Undescribable Perfection

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Carandiru is a horrible prison which is something like 50% over capacity. So the prisoners are squeezed in like sardines. It's a different type of prison movie to a typical American prison movie, as Brazilian prisoners don't tolerate rape. Rapists are in a wing of the prison that would I think be referred to as administrative segregation in a US penitentiary, along with serial killers and informants. They are in the awful situation of never having any sunlight, they live in very dark cells, perhaps 7 to a cell that is not much more than 10x20 feet. If they were to go out to the prison yard, they would be murdered.The men running the prison from the prisoners side are career criminals, they're not serial killer lunatics or male rapists. That doesn't mean to say that everything they do is nice but it's not an insane asylum. There are guards on the walls with automatic rifles to stop people getting out, and a governor who will walk around inside, as well as a prison doctor, but these inmates are basically in charge.The film is played for a lot of magic realism, it's mostly a recounting of the experiences of the prison doctor. You get very surreal images like the doctor leaving late at night, walking down spottily lit corridors, he looks through the spyhole of one cell and there are seven men each watching a different TV with a different TV channel. There is also a man who makes strange patchwork Montgolfier style balloons that he tries to send out of the prison walls, which are always too high, there's a very surreal shot of one of these balloons rising and then slowly bursting into flames.Generally the relationship between the prison officials and the prisoners is relaxed, the prisoners get a lot of privileges for behaving, they can have televisions if they pay for them, they can have long term sexual relationships, they also have a visitors day where families will come in with picnics, and they sit and eat them in the courtyard, or go off to specially prepared cells for conjugal visitations. The prisoners have also decorated the prison, often with text, for example scripture, but also with many beautiful graffiti. It's like a purgatory, a beautiful horrifying lost world. The movie was made to memorialise the inhuman reprisals from the authorities following a prison riot. I think it does the job well. This is a great movie, and Hector Babenco is a great artist. Next stop if you haven't already seen it yet should be Babenco's "Ironweed".

Let's get things straight here, if you were drawn to this film due its comparisons to the equally magnificent City of God, you're going to be surprised. Aside from the fact that its a Brazilian film about criminals, there are few similarities. While City of God was an epic story of life in the slums of Rio De Janeiro, Carandiru is about much older criminals and the days leading up to the infamous Carandiru prison massacre.However, this is not the non-stop assault on the senses of grim violence you might expect. In fact, only the last twenty minutes or so of the film deal with the massacre at all and the film instead concentrates on a much more human aspect to the carnage. Focusing on the character of the Doctor as he tries to raise awareness of AIDs in the prison, it revolves around his day to day life as he chats casually with the inmates, learning of their hopes, fears and more often than not, their reason for being in the prison in the first place. These are stories that range from sad, to touching to outright hilarity and you soon find yourself absorbed in this world of offbeat criminals, so much so that when the violence does erupt, it is all the more shocking for it.There are differences to the normal, US prison drama as well. I'm not sure how the Brazilians run their penitentiaries, but here there are no uniforms and they are allowed many of the comforts of home, along with free reign of the prison yard. But these are still drab conditions, with multiple inmates crammed into a single room, sweltering in the intense heat of the tropical summer. And ultimately, the prison is a community, made of genuine individuals, rather than clear cut prison stereotypes. This is a masterful film, one of my top movies of all time.

With Hollywood's usual sugar-coated approach to everything, including prison life, it's nice to see how independent filmmakers in some of the most impoverished societies of the world handle the subject. This is not the first time Brazil has been the subject of international attention. From their numerous wins at the world cup to being the place a once-good hardcore band called Sepultura started, it is probably the most well-known country in South America.Those who are familiar with Sepultura's music will know the name Carandiru already. Although I forget the name of the song, the prison was covered in a song detailing the brutal murders of prisoners. Some things implied in the song are flatly contradicted here, but I will deal with that later. Where Carandiru, the film, succeeds while Sepultura's song failed, is that the film gives the prisoners a very rational, human face. They're not portrayed as angels, but neither are they portrayed as devil incarnates. They are given enough humanity to matter, and that is literally everything in this type of film.It is also interesting to get a listen to some of the other musicians of Brazil in some of the soundtrack. I forget the name of the band (Ratos Du Parao or something like that), but their song Crucificados Pelo Sistema can be heard very prominently during one memorable scene. As you get to learn more about the criminals, both major and minor, the title seems exceptionally appropriate. In fact, a wide variety of music that is appropriate to the setting is presented here, as opposed to the one-note selections presented in many American films set in prison.There has been criticism levelled at the film, along the lines of being too long and distended. That is true to some extent. Such scenes as the pop singer's visit to the prison should definitely have been left on the cutting room floor. The statements of the prisoners about the massacre were also unnecessary, as they build a sometimes false impression of who lived or died, and prematurely at that. It has also been said that the film lacks focus, with many prisoners getting a little detail, while others get none at all. Personally, I prefer it this way. Following a singular hero around is getting tired, especially when there is such a wide, diverse mix here.It has also been said that the film builds a false, overly negative portrait of life in Brazil. I can see shades for and against that. As I mentioned before, Sepultura are a famous example of the music scene in Brazil, mixing elements of Napalm-Death style with Biafra-like punk. It is only in a nation so disrespectful of human rights and truth that a band that screams about injustice or abuses would have to leave. But at the same time, Brazil has a culture all its own, which most certainly should not be replaced by Americanism.The aforementioned-song has it that the inmates in Carandiru were annihilated in what was described as a "holocaust method". The film has it that in a prison housing some 7500 inmates (it was intended to house 4000, apparently), 110 or so were killed. Either way, the prison was eventually closed and torn down. And Americans think their prisons are brutal!In all, I gave Carandiru a seven out of ten. It is far from perfect, but as a change from the staid formula of Hollywood, it is just what the doctor ordered. Give it a squiz, if only for the cultural expansion.

'Carandiru' is a mess, not just the blood flowing over the steps of the infamous São Paulo prison that was razed after a prisoner riot and slaughter in 1992. In 145 minutes, Hector Babenco ('Pixote,' 'Kiss of the Spider Woman') has too many episodes about different inmates that only tangentially and sometimes superficially relate to the central subject of AIDS prevention; frequently they are standard flashbacks to what the prisoners did to merit incarceration. A secondary and successful purpose is to reveal a highly structured prisoner society where justice is swift and not always wrong, where the only mistake is to give in to the civilian authority, at which point any freedoms are lost. Despite the crowded and unsanitary conditions, inmates are usually safer and healthier inside rather than out. The story is told mainly from a prison doctor's point of view as he interviews the inmates for AIDS screening and hears about their lives. Although he is way too happy in his work, he represents a humanistic attitude lacking in the prison officials and the world outside. Homosexuality, while appropriate for any prison tale, seems to dominate the entire long movie (145 minutes) and throw into relief the director/ writer's interest in the subject that began at least in 'Kiss.' One of the most affecting scenes is the marriage of a devoted, physically mismatched couple and the subsequent attempt by the smaller 'husband' to protect his bride. Babenco and the actors manage to relay dignity and gravity in a situation that could be laughable if not at least clichéd. Babenco was inspired to write this screenplay by a doctor who saved his life, a doctor who wrote about his experiences in this prison in 'Carandiru Station.' Although HBO's 'Oz' prison series was more insightful, no account could be as loving and socially concerned. Famous prisoner Oscar Wilde wrote in 'De Profundis,' 'A day in prison on which one does not weep is a day on which one's heart is hard, not a day on which one's heart is happy.' Babenco caught the hard sadness of prison life in 'Carandiru.'