Building an indictment of the media, the police, and the provincial governor for placing self-interest above saving lives, Bus 174 opens out from the people directly involved in the incident to an examination of institutionalized poverty.

| Apr 10, 2018

A tense documentary with multiple layers of meaning.

Full Review | Jun 10, 2008

Padilha allows neither easy answers nor ironic commentary, producing on both sides of the conflict a world of inconsolable grief.

| May 8, 2007

Slightly overlong for overseas audiences, José Padilha's film (co-directed by editor Felipe Lacerda) makes it crystal clear why this incident proved so traumatic for many Brazilians.

| Jan 26, 2006

Masterful.

| May 3, 2005

If City Of God cracked the skin, Bus 174 digs deep into the wound. An astounding, depressing triumph.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 14, 2004

A stunning indictment of Brazil's social meltdown, this startling documentary plays like City Of God -- except this time the bullets are real.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 23, 2004

An extraordinary portrait of a life lived always in the shadow of despair.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 5, 2004

In a city that continually hides its social problems among the shadows, it's inevitable that the surest light to reveal them would come from a muzzle flash.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2004

Interviews, images and events accumulate, driving the story to its sad end with the implacable momentum of a Greek tragedy.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 5, 2004

A fluid and forceful indictment of a culture of neglect.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2003

It shows us the spectacle of what happened while explaining the many factors why. It is extraordinary in the way it balances the sensational with the sensible.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2003

The movie brilliantly uses this intense narrative as a platform from which to observe some of the deeper flaws in Brazilian culture.

| Dec 5, 2003

What starts off as a documentary about a hostage crisis in Rio de Janeiro deepens with every passing minute. By the end, you realize you've seen an extraordinary movie, easily one of the best of the year.

| Dec 5, 2003

This is patient filmmaking, trading sensationalism for the rewards of investigation.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 5, 2003

It operates as a multi-pronged critique of a society in which the media, the police, the state and public itself are implicated in precisely the kind of violence that gripped the nation of Brazil that day.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 7, 2003

Padilha does much more than just present a hostage situation. He hunts down people who knew Nascimento and reconstructs his tortured life.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 7, 2003

It is Padilha's sensitivity, thoroughness, persistence and artful assembly of all the angles on this story that gets us heart-wrenchingly close to understanding the 'why.'

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 7, 2003

If you have seen the masterful 2002 Brazilian film City of God or the 1981 film Pixote, both about the culture of Rio's street people, then Bus 174 plays like a sad and angry real-life sequel.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 24, 2003

A thoughtful, analytical yet still emotional film, meticulously investigated and absolutely compelling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 23, 2003