Movie Review: Bus 174

What I enjoyed most about this movie was the insight it gave me into another culture, namely Brazilian.

On the surface, it is about a bus hijacking, but the director dives into many of the underlying issues that (potentially) drove the Sandro do Nascimento (the hijacker) to perpetrate his deed.

Issues of the vast divide between rich and poor, the favellas, the treatment of prisoners, the life of "street kids," the incompetency of the police force, the unwillingness to take risks that needed to be taken...a huge number of issues.

In this country, we're so used to hearing about our own problems and how others perceive the US. Not that I would expect Brazil to be perfect, but it was a perspective-widening moment to dive deeply into the rich cultural fabric of a foreign nation and get a glimpse of their lives and struggles.