The other night I watched 'Bus 174', a film about the hijacking of a bus in Rio de Janeiro by a former street-kid, Sandro do Nascimento whose mother was killed in front of him when he was 6. The hi-jacking was a real event, broadcast live on news channels, Brazil watched in fear as the armed man threatened to kill all the hostages on the bus at 6 o'clock. The police standby, almost powerless, negotiating with the captor, but not wishing to shoot him on national TV. The film profiles the street-children of Rio, the attitude of the police and the public to them, and how they resort to violence to shed their shroud of invisibility and draw Brazil's attention to the wider problem of social inequalities.
The film was perhaps a little long, but it was very informative, interviewing people who knew Sandro, his Aunt, friends, hostages and the police. Worth watching.
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