From the opening credits, “Bus 174” is a bumpy ride. It recounts the chaotic afternoon of June 12, 2000, when Sandro do Nascimento–young, black, desperate and probably stoned–hijacked a bus on a busy Rio thoroughfare. The police quickly surrounded the bus, with TV news crews in tow, beginning an ordeal that millions watched unfold live. The drama ended in bloodshed when police botched an attempt to jump the hijacker and rescue his hostage. Padilha deconstructs that day, toggling back and forth in time and skillfully mixing newsreels, studio interviews and accounts of Nascimento’s fractured childhood.
What makes “Bus 174” particularly chilling is that it is all true. Forget the talking heads who wax grandly about the sociological breakdown that drove Nascimento to the brink. Far more compelling is the film’s careful recounting of the tragedies that marked his life: he saw bandits cut his mother’s throat, among other things. “This is not a movie, this is for real!” Nascimento yells, waving his rusty revolver from the bus window. In an age lulled into narcolepsy by so-called reality TV, “Bus 174” is an eloquent slap in the face.
