5.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed in pieces, yet very powerful as a whole, August 11, 2011
This review is from: Carandiru [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Sometimes I wish there was a 4.5 star rating...
There are plenty of flaws - the doctor at the center of this prison
story stays a grinning Buddha- like cipher, some of the prisoners feel
like tattered clichés or soap opera characters.
Yet, in the end, the total effect is amazingly powerful.
Spoilers ahead!
By coming to see these men as real human beings with families and
stories, before watching the insane storming of the prison by riot
troops who killed 111 of them, the film has a real visceral power.
Manipulative, one-sided, hokey at moments and some performances better
than others, but ultimately that rare piece of agit-prop filmmaking
that really works to make you see things in a different light.
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