Bus 174 (2002)

Country : Brazil

Genre : Documentary

"Do you know who the real victim in all of this is? It’s you.”If you come to know that these words were uttered by a helpless hostage to a hijacker, one wonders how could a hijacker of a public bus numbered 174, in city of Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro., could be a victim in a such situation .The documentary named "Bus 174 " is the narration of the event of  Bus 174 hijacking by hostages, elite squad officers and people who knew the hijacker prior to incident. With four bullets in his pistol, the hijacker keeps four females as hostage in the bus with some very interesting demands in exchange for release of hostages. The documentary reveals the past of the hijacker named, Sandro Rosa do Nascimento,  and shows the conditions of homeless children in one of the most famous cities of Brazil. When no one seems to care about them, as if they are "invisible", these kids resort to drugs, theft and robbery in order to survive and avenge from Society. What is really interesting is the similarity of conditions found in any third world country for such children. None of us realize that what our future generation is turning into due to our own negligence. Documentary also shows the state of law and order institutes in such countries where these kids, who can be made a responsible citizen, are treated like animals .They are brutally tortured and some times even killed while jails keep more prisoners than its capacity. Furthermore the police of such states is often not prepared as how to act in such situations. Being the narration of real life event, as the hijacker repeatedly says “this is no action movie”, one also questions the role of media’s reality TV coverage in such events which can elongate the dead lock in such situation and risk lives of hostages. Rarely will you see a documentary that could depict so many problems of our third world by using just one incident. A must watch for documentary lovers and insight into real problems of third world country.

Rating : 10/10