That what the police were thinking when it all started, that it was just a robbery. That sort of thing wasn't unusual in Rio. Crimes of that sort happened frequently. But what they didn't know, what nobody knew until the problem escalated to the point of no return was that the root cause was something much more severe. On that fateful afternoon in June 2000, a homeless street kid named Sandro do Nascimento boarded bus 174 and over the next four and a half hours grabbed the attention of millions of Brazilians on national television, as he held the passengers on the vehicle hostage. He was armed and yelled to the police that he would shoot people.
This film was pieced together using real archival footage by director José Padilha and co-director Felipe Lacerda. The investigation into Sandro's life and the deeper, more serious issues about Brazil's street children and the inability of the Rio police to stabilize the situation are explored throughout the film.
This really happened. Nothing is exaggerated, and no details are spared. Sandro do Nascimento was caught on tape shouting from the bus, "This isn't an action film!"
Who Was Sandro do Nascimento?
He was a kid born into unfortunate circumstances. His short life began in 1978, and his mother was killed by a gang of thugs when he was six. He watched this happen and from that point on he divided his time between the streets and juvenile detention centres. His mother's death was never solved. Totally illiterate, he eventually found some degree of refuge at Rio's Candelária Catholic Church.
On July 23, 1993 this church which is right in the middle of downtown Rio de Janeiro was the site of one the nation's worst massacres. A group of armed men stopped by at around midnight and opened fire on a large group of homeless children who were sleeping beside the church. Eight were killed immediately.
One of the kids who were there that night was Sandro do Nascimento. This incident traumatized him right up to the day that he hijacked the bus.
The Hostage Situation on the Bus
On June 12, 2000 Sandro got on that bus in the Jardim Botânico section of Rio. On it were several students and ordinary workers on their way home. Sandro was high on drugs and grew more unpredictable by the minute. It wasn't long before camera crews were all over the place, and heavily armed members of Rio's respected SWAT team stood with their fingers ready to pull the trigger when they were ordered to take the shot. That order never came because the Governor of the state of Rio didn't want Sandro to be shot on national television.
The police were dragging their feet. They failed to seal that area off entirely which compounded the stress of the situation. He demanded a rifle, hand grenades and a new driver for the bus or he would start killing the hostages one by one.
Police Brutality in Brazil
Brazilian police officers are woefully underfunded and poorly trained. Using testimonies from inmates who have been locked up in some of Rio's worst jails, the movie shows how the cops mistreat and abuse prisoners. Many are incarcerated on bogus/and or trumped up charges, and spend months languishing in decrepit prisons. Sandro was well aware of this since he spent considerable time there.
An Unanticipated Killing
The police finally convinced Sandro to get off the bus, and he did, but with one hostage in front of him as a human shield. An officer moved in when he wasn't looking but at the last minute the hijacker spotted him and panicked. The hostage, a twenty year old woman named Geisa Firmo Gonçalves, later died of multiple gunshot wounds. Not all of those were fired by Sandro. An angry crowd of onlookers were ready to lynch Sandro and the police bundled him in the back of a van. He also died of asphyxiation.
No Easy Solution for Brazil's Lower Class
Once again, perhaps unfairly, the country was portrayed as a lawless society. One has to wonder if there will be any way to solve the explosive problems in Rio and other Brazilian cities or if the government will ever work to rectify the social inadequacies which set the stage for this tragedy.
