On 12 June 2000, 25 million Brazilians gawped at their TVs as a crazed druggie hijacked a bus in downtown Rio. He waved a gun at his hostages, ranted incoherent abuse at the encircling police and news teams and, for a few hours at least, became a national celebrity.
José Padilha's stirring documentary contains all the choice footage from this media event, but no longer are we dealing with a "crazed druggie". Bus 174 instead introduces us to Sandro do Nascimento, a street orphan who sought to "impose his visibility". Here he finally does just that, Padilha's research unearthing Sandro's ghastly background - poverty, prison, police abuse - by interviewing friends, cops and social workers. Heartbreaking.
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