CARANDIRU (2003)

In Sao Paolo, Brazil, there used to be a prison named Carandiru, which was torn down in 2002.  Despite the fact that the Carandiru prison no longer exists, its haunting history cannot escape the audience.  It is through Hector Babenco's direction the audience can view the brutality that took place an October day in 1992 when 300 police officers massacred 111 inmates.  This dramatization is based on true events, and it is told through the testimony of a physician who worked in the prison before the riots lead to the carnage.

The story follows Dr. Varella who arrives to the prison to investigate AIDS and HIV, which was a rather new disease at the time.  Through Dr. Varella the audience gets to meet a number of characters with diverse pasts, and how they ended up in Carandiru.  Most of them are criminals in one way or another, however, their stories bring humanity to the dire prison.  The stories depict the convicts’ feelings and their lives in the prison as they have to adjust to the life in the overcrowded penitentiary.  It is the struggle for an ordinary life in the jail that becomes the focus of the film, which also enhances the revolting behavior of the police force.

The depicted humanity magnifies the violence that is brought to the Carandiru through the 300 police officers that stormed the jail with assault rifles.  This is reinforced through survivors of the bloody assault as they sit in on interviews in which they disclose their feeling in regards to what happened.  However, Babenco does not reach the same level with Carandiru as he did with Pixote when it was released in the early 80s.  The main reason is that the film feels somewhat staged as some scenes become slightly awkward unlike the rough depiction of Pixote.  Regardless of having a staged atmosphere Carandiru offers a terrific cinematic experience, which will offer deliberate reflection upon injustice as the police force was not charged for anything after having murdered 111 inmates of Carandiru. 

DIRECTED BY

Hector Babenco

COUNTRY

Brazil / Argentina
REVIEWED
11/6/2004
GRADE


Filmography links and data courtesy of  
The Internet Movie Database.