Carandiru

2003 [PORTUGUESE]

Action / Crime / Drama

29
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 81 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 24325 24.3K

prison police brutality attempted murder carandiru massacre sao paulo, brazil doctor

Plot summary

When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo - Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people. Based on real facts and on the book written by Dráuzio Varella.

Director

Hector Babenco Photo
Hector Babenco

Top cast

Luis Miranda Photo
Luis Miranda as Paulo Boca
Wagner Moura Photo
Wagner Moura as Zico
Gero Camilo Photo
Gero Camilo as Sem Chance - No Way
Ivan de Almeida Photo
Ivan de Almeida as Nego Preto - Ebony
720p.BluRay 720p.WEB 1080p.BluRay 1080p.WEB
1.31 GB
1280*694
Portuguese 2.0
NR
Subtitles pt  
23.976 fps
2 hr 25 min
Seeds 1
1.3 GB
1280*678
Portuguese 2.0
NR
Subtitles pt  
23.976 fps
2 hr 25 min
Seeds ...
2.69 GB
1920*1040
Portuguese 5.1
NR
Subtitles pt  
23.976 fps
2 hr 25 min
Seeds 7
2.68 GB
1890*1002
Portuguese 5.1
NR
Subtitles pt  
23.976 fps
2 hr 25 min
Seeds 16

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by btodorov 9 / 10

great hymn of life and humanity

Carandiru is a true hymn of humanity in all of us. What let the Brazilian riot squad shoot down over a hundred inmates was that following both prejudice and the professional drilling they had been subjected to, they regarded the rioters of 1992 as nothing but worthless scum. Bebenco does not defend his characters. Based on the eyewitness account of the prison physician, he presents us with assassins, murderers, robbers and drug-dealers who do not even claim they do not deserve their sentences (although many were kept in prison without convictions). What made them human was their continuous contact with the world outside. The visitation day scene is a memorable tribute to life in a truly Christian sense - everyone deserves to live and to hope not because of his own qualities or deeds, but because of the love others share for him. The character of the serial killer Dagger was essential to this purpose. His solitude in the midst of the modest pleasures of everybody else visited by his close ones was the first sign of the overcoming guilt which eventually took him to the preacher. Let this review not be understood as if the movie pursues to proselytize the viewers; I hope not to be too cynical to say that its prime purpose is to rejoice - to rejoice with the great diversity of human characters to whom Dr Varella and H. Bebenco paid their tribute.
Reviewed by jotix100 8 / 10

History repeats itself

This film opened in this country recently, right after another prison massacre in Brazil, where inmates were killed after they rioted. Hector Babenco's film is a sad commentary on society's failure to turn these criminals in jail, into law abiding citizens. If anything, this film could be a vivid reminder to law breaking people about what they can expect when they have to pay their debt and must serve time under conditions such as the one we see in Carandiru prison.Add to that the horrible conditions of jails in certain parts of the world. Any would be criminal should think twice about the consequence of their actions. Landing in a penal institution is a hellish experience, at best. How can lawmakers of the world think that a criminal mind will be changed by sending them to places such as Carandiru? If anything, placing these criminals with other criminals in such conditions will perpetuate crime and if the prisoner survives the term, he will be scarred for life.Not having read the book in which this film is based, it is only fair to say that Mr. Babenco, an excellent director, has given us a realistic film about what hell must be like.
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