Carandiru (2003)

A Disappointing Continuation

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

"Carandiru" is Hector ("Kiss of the Spider Woman") Babenco's sweeping epic about life inside the notorious Brazilian prison of the same name, which was demolished in 2002 following a brutal riot during which 111 prisoners were killed (execution style, supposedly) and not one cop or guard was killed.The film is based on a book called "Carandiru Station", written by Babenco's former doctor, who was the official prison doctor for several years. Babenco, who has made other films about Latin American prison life ("Pixote", "Kiss of the Spider Woman") was intrigued and decided to film it.The whole thing is told from the point of view of the doctor, who spends a great deal of his time trying to educate the prison population about the spread of AIDS which many catch through homosexual sex and dope needles. The bulk of the film involves prisoners coming to see him and telling him (us) the story of how they wound up behind bars. Most of the stories are sad and tragic but not without humor and compassion.The prison itself is not at all like what we in America associate with a prison. Carandiru is more like a super scummy apartment complex. The prisoners come and go with a shocking amount of freedom. The whole thing is basically run by the prisoners. The cells look almost like apartments. On visiting day women and kids wander freely in and around the cells and halls. Very strange.The last third of the film is a re-creation of the horrific riot which claimed the lives of so many prisoners.The film is similar in many ways to "City of God" in that its basically an extended Brazilian crime saga. But where "City of God" is nihilistic and adrenaline-pumped, "Carandiru" is compassionate and humanistic. Make no mistake, this is a brutal, brutal film. But Babenco really strives to turn the prisoners into characters the audience can understand and even empathize with. None of them are scary, blank-faced killers like Lil Ze in "City of God". The violence that happens happens for a very tangible reason, often leaving a tragic feel. The prisoners seem very trapped in lives filled with disease and drugs and vendettas.A sad film, but also one with a great deal of humor. Prisoners like Highness, who is eternally juggling two women at the same time (even while in prison!). And Dagger, a brutal killer who is suddenly paralyzed by guilt over his actions. The images of him wandering, wraith-like, through the yard are haunting.A superb film. Highly recommended

On October 2, 1992, a riot broke out at the Sao Paolo House of Detention in Carandiru, Brazil. By the end of that day, 111 prisoners lay dead, the victims of the riot police who stormed the facility and brutally massacred them - even after they'd surrendered their weapons. Perhaps the most striking aspect about Carandiru is that it doesn't hit us over the head with its subject matter - at least not initially, that is. For roughly the first two-thirds of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time, the film focuses on the lives and struggles of the prisoners, as seen through the eyes of the compassionate doctor whose book on the subject served as the basis for the film. Without passing moral judgment, Dr. Drauzio Varella, who has been sent there mainly to help stem the spread of AIDS in the facility, listens sympathetically to the stories the men tell regarding the crimes they committed (mainly murder) which led to their incarceration (these we see acted out in numerous flashback sequences). Although the prison is tremendously overcrowded and drug use and disease run rampant through the corridors, the conditions don't appear to be quite as harsh or hellish as we might have expected them to be before seeing the movie. For one thing, the men seem to be treated rather decently by the guards - who seem to exist in surprisingly small numbers, actually - and the prisoners appear to have more freedom to walk around and interact with one another than we are used to seeing in American prisons (or, at least, in movies about American prisons). In fact, so much time is spent exploring the relationship problems between the men in their prisons and their loved ones on the outside that Carandiru often feels more like a "novela" set behind bars than a gritty depiction of life in a human hellhole.But all that changes in the last half hour of the film after the riot has begun and we see the prisoners gunned down in cold blood, many of them while cowering in their cells. It is a brutal and terrifying display of raw, inhuman savagery, one that far surpasses anything we have seen perpetrated by the prisoners themselves. However, writer/director Hector Babenco (along with co-authors Fernando Bonassi and Victor Navas) does not attempt to sanctify or glorify the convicts either, for much of what they do to their fellow human beings is not too many moral steps removed from what the riot squad members eventually do to them. Although the filmmakers' sympathies clearly lie with the prisoners, who are at least presented to us as flawed, three-dimensional human beings, he is not afraid to show the evil side of these men when he needs to as well. The acts of violence that the prisoners perpetrate on their victims and each other are conveyed by the filmmaker with a dispassionate efficiency and awe-inspiring swiftness that are indeed chilling. As a drama, Carandiru could have benefited from a bit of tightening in its earlier stretches, for the film feels a trifle unfocused and meandering at times. Still, by concentrating so intently on the everyday minutiae of these men's lives in prison, Babenco certainly helps the characters to become more real for the viewer, thereby intensifying the sense of loss when the tragedy occurs. Blessed with a large and gifted cast, Carandiru offers a long, sometimes touching, sometimes painful look into a world and an event that would otherwise have remained hidden from the eyes of the world.

My friend lent me this film and to be honest I was not really interested or excited about seeing it. I only put it on because boredom had took over me so I was not expecting to see a good film!! The film starts off with lots of characters shouting and arguing, also I am not used to watching films with subtitles so to say I was slightly confused would be an understatement!! 15 minutes in and I was hooked, I wont give anything away but the film focuses on a selection of inmates and their life in Carandiru prison. It also has sub stories on how they became to be inmates. Some amusing, shocking and interesting moments throughout the film will have the viewer completely tuned in to the way of life these inmates had. This is a true story about the massacre of inmates at the prison when police dealt with a riot. It is an amazing film and the ending is brilliant. I have watched it 4 times with different people and they too agree it was excellent. If you like prison movies and don't mind reading subtitles this film is for you. In my opinion its almost as good as shawshank redemption (my favorite film) and better than midnight express. This is only my opinion and I am sure people will argue otherwise but from me this film gets an 8 out of 10.

I got this off Ebay for $9 including shipping for the 2-disc version. For that price this movie was a steal, I can't complain at all. I am a fan of the HBO series OZ, and seeing some comments on here comparing the two really had me excited to see this. It didn't disapoint, but it didn't leave me begging for more. It was a good movie, but not something I was jumping for joy over.I think a good attempt was made at giving as much background on the characters as possible, to try to make the audience realize where each person was coming from. You see this in OZ also, as they have flashbacks to life outside of prison leading up to their time in lockdown. The problem is OZ had 6 seasons, each having 8 hours of footage. What I realized over time (and they express this in Carandiru) is prison changes a person, so a lot of the real "character build up" per say actually comes from their life in prison more than their life outside. There wasn't enough time in this film to learn about everyone to really appreciate what some of them were going through. The character oldman for example didn't have enough history behind him to effect me. There were good characters and if given the same amount of time as OZ to build, would be just as powerful. I sit here as I type this and wish there was a series to be honest.The film was well done, and in some ways I enjoyed it more than one of Hector's other films Pixote. I have suggest some friends watch this, but I can't put it in the same category as an Oldboy, Bus 174 or City of God for example. It's just a bit short.