Despite the huge number of characters(sometimes you feel sort of lost among those one thousand lives shown at the same time), Carandiru makes his point. It's one of the most important movies ever made in Brazil and the audience seems to understand that due to the incredible exaction the movie is having.
schulz - Glad to find a positive thread to comment on.
This movie was a good character study of prisoners and the prison system in Brazil. I forgot to take note at the beginning (and knew nothing going in) that this was based on a true story. When the prison riot started, it jogged my memory and I started thinking, oh yeah, this is that notorious place that burned to the ground and where they slaughtered them like animals.
What we got were portraits of hard lives, crude but fair justice by the inmates, sympathetic and caring people in the characters of the doctor and the warden, tough HIV-AIDS lessons, fun with the "queens," brutal, fascist behaviour on the part of the riot squad, and Brazilians speaking for themselves, being themselves. This movie was a great improvement over the documentary "Bus 174."
And did I mention the cinematography and sound. Best sound I've hear in years. I want that soundman on my next movie!
Grade: 9 1/2 - Slight minus for the melodramas, though they were integral to the overall feeling of the picture. Maybe you have to be Brazilian.
You gonna eat those fries?
Yeah, I thought it was amazing too. I could have watched another 4 hours of general goings on in the film like there were before the riot started. I was fascinated by the whole film.
I thought it was way better than Bus 174 although it seems kind of good to see that one as a background to the whole street gang and prison system thing.
Absolutely amazing film. Brilliant characters.
I thought the only downside was that I couldn't help thinking that this was only one side of the story and it was probably really biased and maybe not true although I'm sure what the riot squad did wasn't right. Maybe it's just that I can't believe that they would massacre so many people in such a way.
I'm really starting to love Brazilian cinema.
"Hey, this is a private residence, man!"
MEE TOOOO. This movie is awesome. I luckily stumbled upon it at the foriegn section at Rogers Video. If I didnt see it there. I probaly wouldnt have even known about this movie. Bus 174 was more of a documentary, it was good too. But you cannot compare these movies to each other. And yes I am starting to love brazilian film toooo. CITY OF GOD, and theres a few others but they had weird names, so I cannot remeber the title.
My feet smells like *beep* Its becuase I stepped on dog poop.
Carandiru is indeed a very good movie. Not the best from Héctor Babenco (The Kiss of the Spider Woman and Pixote are even better IMO).
But it's a honest and at the same time really crude portrait of the inhumane conditions that suffers the inmates from some of the most infamous brazilian jails.
One might think that after the demolition of Carandiru prision, those things never would happen again but then I got to see another great brazilian movie directed by José Padilha (Bus 174) that portrayed some inmates in a similar situation (or worse) than those inmates in Carandiru then years later.
Great movie, not easy to watch at times but very important and if you ask me: necessary
I think the movie wasn't that good.. There were too much characters wich had their own little story when the whole movie was just a mess. The acting wasnt so great, f.ex. the doctor always had a smile on his face even when the prisoners told how they killed someone?!
And the fact that the movie tried to make us feel that those prisoners are normal people like everyone else and at the end they were just slaughtered like animals. But they couldnt pull it :/
4/10
But the truth is , they are. They are homo sapiens sapiens just like us.. They have the same feelings, the same thoughts. Dont take me wrong, most of them deserve to die for what they did. But there is a second side to everybody.
- He moves his lips when he reads. What does that tell you about him?