1/28/2024 0 Comments Last stop 174You could imagine the anger if the bulk of mainstream film from the UK, for instance, portrayed nothing but Trainspotting and underbellies of drug orgies and football violence. Ones that deplore the way their multifaceted country is depicted as a violent, third-world outback. Additionally, my sympathies are moving towards some of the more art-house –type directors from Brasil. Yet on viewing, I felt it had little new to say. I had been very much looking forward to Last Stop 174. The actual hijack is a relatively short segment at the end of the film - and it left me a little underwhelmed. It seems a good enough story yet is really a collection of interlocking pieces rather than a smoothly flowing whole. But does the film have more to it than just box office returns? Our young actors do well - on many an occasion - but at other times seem noticeably stretched. The pace doesn't let up, and the central characters give a convincing demonstration of Brasil's brand of smooth-talking hustlers. ![]() As a straightforward action movie, Last Stop 174 is gritty and entertaining. Meanwhile, Church and NGOs fight to save souls among such unworthy miscreants. ![]() Between the bloodbath of juveniles and the bus hi-jack, weave tales of maternal longing, desperate glue-sniffing, jailbreak and prostitution. A close shave with an infamous street massacre, just off Presidente Vargas (in Rio's city centre), sees several children gunned down. They survive by armed robbery and dealing drugs. His life soon intertwines with another boy called Sandro as they grow up on the streets, doing coke and doing time. Young Alessandro (Sandro for short) is soon old enough to wield a gun. The gangsters that grab him violently are owed money by his coke-sniffing mama. Our action starts with Alessandro, rudely ripped from his mother's breast (quite literally). Last Stop 174, a feature thriller that culminates in the same event, has much to live up to. It was made into the documentary, Onibus 174, which did rather well, and also inspired this film. The famous 174 incident ended in bloodshed. If he had stopped, the chances of being robbed at gunpoint would have been high. The phalanx of charging youngsters scatters at the very last minute. It resembles a game of dare, but with deadly intent. Instead of stopping, he accelerates towards the children. I'm on my way back to the apartment after late night carousing. They run head-on towards us in a v-formation, attempting to make the bus brake hard. About twenty young kids, none of them more than twelve years old, charge our fast-moving vehicle. The same freeway where part of this film is located. Coming off a slip road from Presidente Vargas. I did once experience an attempted hi-jack in Brasil. First a documentary, and now this major film. The ordeal was imprinted on the national psyche, much the way 9/11 is on America's. Rio de Janeiro police desperately tried to free hostages. ![]() National television gave it hours of live coverage. The number 174 bus may well forever be remembered as the most famous hi-jack in Brasil. I don't know what else to say, it is simply a very good movie that tells the life story of two children from the favelas of Rio De Janeiro and it's very good to see good stories about this subjects. And tough in the end, in the part of the bus assault there are some things rushed and that doesn't fit well, it's very good and engaging. One thing that I didn't fully understood is why do they present the two kids in the beginning if they are going to tell with more importance the story of only one of them, I understand that is for knowing their past and it helps to understand a lot, but one of the boys doesn't get the same importance of the other. Although there's no hero in this movie the characters are kind of lovable. Besides the acting is really good and realist, which is another strong point for the movie. The movie relies on a very good direction, photography, music, good dialogs, but as I said what makes the movie likable is that is very entertaining and catches you in every moment, from the beginning to the end. I say this because it tells a very hard story and it entertains you all the time. I didn't know that this movie was the Brazilian choice for the Oscars for Best Foreign Film and although it wasn't even nominates is still a very good movie.
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