Buss 174

Ônibus 174

This powerful film offers no excuses for Sandro's actions, but his situation demands our empathy.

...an ambitious and accomplished film [that] uses its 150-minute length to probe behind the event, providing a sociological overview of the society that produced its confused but far from stupid protagonist.

…by documenting the conditions of Sandro de Nascimiento and countless others, shows that the journey began long before the passengers boarded the bus.

…the film is a pulse-pounding piece of documentary reportage, and a terribly important account of a social problem in developing countries that won't be going away anytime soon.

Although it shares a bitter interest in slum desperation with last year's Brazilian-underbelly docudrama ''City of God,'' ''Bus 174'' pulls ahead, I think, by not confusing cinematic pizzazz with the content of misery.