carandiru ( film )
cast of' carandiru' during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at ...
cast of' carandiru' during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
carandiru is the most powerful brazilian film i have seen outside of cidade de deus .
hector babenco during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais ...
drauzio varella during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais ...
rodrigo santoro during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais ...
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aida leiner during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des ...
caio blat during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des ...
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aida leiner during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
hector babenco during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
drauzio varella during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
caio blat during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
rodrigo santoro during 2003 cannes film festival -' carandiru' photo call at palais des festivals in cannes, france .
hector babenco' s prisondrama carandiru has become thehighest grossing brazilian film of all time in its home territory according tolocal distributor columbia tristar .
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drauzio varella of the movie' carandiru' poses for portraits during the 2004 sundance film festival january 17, 2004 in park city, utah .
the film is an adaptation ofnon - fiction best seller carandiru station by dr drauzio varella, who was babenco' s oncologist when he contractedlymphatic cancer. the film weaves together several stories from sao paolo' sinfamous carandiru prison as seenthrough the eyes of dr varella who worked at the penitentiary for 12 years as an aids doctor. carandiru played in competition at cannes last month to mixedreviews .
actor rodrigo santoro of the movie' carandiru' poses for portraits during the 2004 sundance film festival january 17, 2004 in park city, utah .
drauzio varella of the movie' carandiru' poses for portraits during the 2004 ...
actor rodrigo santoro of the movie' carandiru' poses for portraits during the 2004 ...
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in 1992, police went berserk in brazil' s notorious carandiru jail, killing 111 inmates. now the story of the massacre has been turned into a film. by patrick wilcken
producer hector babenco, actor rodrigo santoro and drauzio varella of the movie' carandiru' pose for portraits during the 2004 sundance film festival january 17, 2004 in park city, utah .
actor rodrigo santoro, producer hector babenco and drauzio varella of the movie' carandiru' pose for portraits during the 2004 sundance film festival january 17, 2004 in park city, utah .
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“carandiru. doc” intends to have that same attentive and revealing look on the movie “carandiru”. it will be like an open and privileged window that will reveal for the public this process of transforming fiction into reality that cinema achieves .
despite its structural flaws, carandiru presents more interesting characters than you' d see in a dozen other prison movies .
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actor rodrigo santoro (l), drauzio varella and producer hector babenco of the movie' carandiru' pose for portraits during the 2004 sundance film festival january 17, 2004 in park city, utah .
on the other hand, hector babenco, the well know director of “pixote, the law of the weakest” and “kiss of the spider woman”, will be shooting the feature film “carandiru”, based on the brazilian bestseller by doctor dráuzio varella, in the actual location of carandiru, exactly in the days that it is being emptied .
five years later, he returned to cannes in triumph with carandiru, which he considered “my most realistic film”. the powerful drama was inspired by dr drauzio varella, whom babenco credited as having saved his life when he was ill, and who had written a memoir about his experiences in the notorious carandiru penitentiary in são paulo .
a breathtaking film, that talk about prisoners with aids, life in prison, prejudice and homosexuality. all seen by the doctor drauzio varella. a true story based on the book estaã§ã£o carandiru. shocking !
from its very first scenes - - showing the arrival of a young doctor of shining goodwill and naivete at boisterous carandiru prison in sao paolo, brazil - - hector babenco' s
carandiru
is a prison movie of unusual richness and jarring power .
· carandiru screens at the london film festival on november 5 and 6 at the odeon west end, london, wc2. (tickets: 020 - 7928 3232 .) it goes on general release next year .
caught in a trap... the 1985 film of kiss of the spider woman
ps: vagner moura and lázaro ramos rule this film. fuckkk they are amazing .
and actress marilia pera attend the new york film critics circle awards, where babenco was awarded the best foreign language film prize for his movie pixote: a ...
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los angeles film critics association: lafca award, best actor, jack nicholson; 1987 .
carandiru, as the detention center prison complex became know as, the largest in latin america, will be deactivated before may, 2002 .
so, at the same time, the carandiru complex will be the place where the story unfolds and the main character of this documentary .
reported that 65% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on twenty reviews .
new york film critics circle awards: nyfcc award, best actor, jack nicholson, 1987 .
in 1992, several phalanxes of uzi - wielding riot police were called in to quell the carandiru prison in brazil, resulting in the pogrom of 111 unarmed inmates. hector babenco' s film is a potent and devastating exploration of these events .
'' carandiru'' is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for violence, sexual situations and very strong language .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are. see what’s now showing
as of june 1, 2003, carandiru has raked in $ 9, 053, 066 (real 27, 160, 220) and scored 4. 109m admissions since itsdebut on april 11. the film is still playing on 261 screens. sony picturesclassics holds the us domestic rights while columbia tristar film distributorsinternational owns rights in the rest of the world .
babenco’s final film was my hindu friend (2016), which starred willem dafoe as a film director dying of cancer who befriends an eight - year - old hindu boy, also a patient at the hospital .
varella' s book is a superbly - written evocation of life inside carandiru. the tiny number of corrupt, poorly paid and badly trained guards (often no more than a dozen overseeing several thousand men) meant that power was effectively devolved to the prisoners themselves. nevertheless, varella found a kind of order inside carandiru .
the opportunity of making this documentary about carandiru, as it is about to end and while a fiction film is made about it, surely, will reveal to the spectator a privileged view of how all these issues and conflicts interact in the construction of reality and the movie .
a film guide that looks at tsotsi (2005), exploring its key topics and themes through informal discussion .
the real carandiru prison was demolished in 2002, it will be transformed into a park with arts facilities. one block (# 2) was left intact to be used as a museum. the film was the last thing they used the prison before demolishing 90% of it .
nevertheless, carandiru is superb exploration of life as prisoner, the thousands of wrong choices we make as individuals but also collectively. when does something become acceptable? anything becomes…
it may be interesting as a collection of chronicles about life in a brazilian prison, but sadly this is a frustratingly superficial and simplistic film that doesn' t discuss the actual causes of the revolt that led to the carandiru massacre, being also uneven and full of awful talking heads .
despite this veracity ,
carandiru
has a surreal quality. it doesn' t feel like a normal prison movie, largely because carandiru was no normal prison. horribly overcrowded - - at one point, there were 8, 000 prisoners in a building made for 3, 000 - - it was also a facility substantially run by the inmates .
carandiru could have been a great prison drama, but it mixed its genres so thoroughly in an attempt to make it entertaining and accessible that i felt it lost its bite .
columbia tristar also tookcare to screen the film in less affluent neighborhoods where the drama is stillplaying strongest .
carandiru has brought people back to the cinema; some people who have not gone to atheatre in years are now trooping back to see it ,
said columbia tristarsales manager andre sala .
two pieces of film are presented here, footage of carandiru prison being demolished in 2002 and a strange rose tinted promotional film showing brazilian prisoners in the 1920s /. most of the footage of the destruction is shown at the end of the film, although this does include an extra camera angle from within the prison courtyard, but it’s a strange piece of footage to include as an extra. the 20s footage is more interesting, assumedly produced by the brazilian government to show how fantastic life in prison was, we see convicts doing ‘swedish callisthenics’ and working the fields. you get the feeling everyone wasn’t quite so happy at the activities in real life, and probably weren’t getting such loving treatment day to day. it’s also an odd piece of film, it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the carandiru prison itself, and it’s age makes it rather irrelevant to the film, but then this is probably the only place you’ll ever see it .
the novel was ideal for independent filmmaking; the resulting film, even more than 20 years later, is still superb .
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carandiru
is based on the best - selling novel - memoir
carandiru station
by dr. drauzio varella. in some ways, this may be one of the most accurate prison movies ever made. varella took his stories from life, though he fictionalized the incidents and the characters, including the young doctor (played by luiz carlos vasconcelos) he modeled on himself. and babenco and his collaborators - - including co - writers victor navas and fernando bonassi and the brilliant cinematographer walter carvalho (
central station
) - - have faithfully translated the novel, shooting much of the film in the actual original prison settings before carandiru was destroyed by court order in 2002 .
for an actor, going to prison is like going to heaven. carandiru is another in a long line of such thespian banquets, very much in the vein of oz. but carandiru also serves as a chilling yet exuberant humanist docudrama testimonial on a particularly horrifying event, as well as ongoing inhumane prison conditions and the social context which encourages crime as a means of survival .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
carandiru
is a soulful movie that eschews glamour and formula to present a thoughtful meditation on an endemic prison reality that reaches far beyond the confines of the richest city in south america .
this project has as objective the making of a documentary that will investigate the final process of life in carandiru (everyday life of the last days, the memories of crimes and events, the diverse and conflicting opinion on the deactivation) at the exact moment that the fictional feature film by hector babenco is being made .
as long as you don' t mind the subtitles, this colourful film highlights an important event in south americas ...
a portuguese brazilian samba singer, dancer, broadway actress, and film star who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s .
steered to fruition by marten rabarts from the maurits binger film institute in amsterdam, holland, project 10 attracted the talents of film experts from south africa, america and denmark. sabc1, south africa' s top public broadcaster, developed and commissioned the series .
mostly non actors, with one main prof. actor, pereio. camera focuses on many local people not in main narrative of film
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brussat, frederic and mary ann. spirituality & practive, film review, february 1988. last accessed: january 29, 2011 .
there is something weirdly nostalgic in the way the movie shows genuine tv footage of the carandiru building finally being dynamited, as if at the end of almost two and a half hours we have seen an old - fashioned epic film about a lost community and a lost way of life, all imbued with a liberal spirit of responsible concern .
sacramento gained access to the prison by telling the officials that he wanted to teach a film course to inmates for a few months .
in the end, we had a lot of material that was shot inside the prison ,
sacramento reflects .
the people inside didn' t know it was going to be a film .
sacramento earned the tribeca film festival award for best new documentary filmmaker .
produced and directed by hector babenco; written (in portuguese, with english subtitles) by victor navas, mr. babenco and fernando bonassi, based on the book'' carandiru station'' by drauzio varella; director of photography, walter carvalho; music by andré abujamra; art director, clóvis bueno; released by sony pictures classics. at the angelika film center, mercer and houston streets, greenwich village. running time: 145 minutes. this film is rated r .
excellent film, superbly directed. haunting, almost disturbing insight into a notorious prison that cut backs to the inmates reasons for being incarcerated .
a brazilian film director. he was born in maceió, alagoas, and is best known as a member of the cinema novo movement .
a collection of queer characters, representations, and sensibilities on film. from queer masterpieces to camp classics, documentaries to romantic comedies, …
carandiru, a story based on real facts and on the book written by the doctor drauzio varella, starts when he decides to carry out an aids prevention program inside latin america’s largest prison: the casa de detenção de são paulo, carandiru, the victim 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 .
film based on real life experiences of doctor drauzio varella inside dreadful state penitentiary carandiru, in são paulo, brazil, while he was doing a social work of aids prevention. there he found hundreds of convicts living under degrading conditions. the situation came to a climax in 1992, when in order to smother a rebellion, police force killed 111 men .
besides the urgency of the events, the deactivation of the carandiru complex, this movie has the unique opportunity to conduct a creative investigation on the process of the making of a fictional movie based on a true context .
a genre and movement of film noted for its emphasis on social equality and intellectualism that rose to prominence in brazil during the 1960s and 1970s .
argentine - born brazilian director, screenwriter and producer hector babenco and actress marilia pera attend the new york film critics circle awards, where babenco was awarded the best foreign language film prize for his movie pixote: a lei do mais fraco (pixote: the law of the weakest) .
brazilian cinema is known internationally for being raw and centering on criminality. carandiru, another one of the country' s most popular films released in recent years, is about a prison that went through a major massacre in 1992 after armed policemen went in and shot prisoners to stop a gang fight. this is a hard film to watch. it starts off slightly quirky, spending nearly two hours building up our emotional connection to many of the characters in the film, showing their backstory and their current fear .
for babenco, varella became
a kind of alter ego
, someone who was doing something creative and vital, at a time when the director could do nothing at all. he encouraged his doctor to set down his experiences in book form. the outcome, estação carandiru (carandiru station), is now a surprise bestseller in brazil, having sold over 400, 000 copies, and was recently adapted into a bbc radio play .
from the filtered narrative perspective of a newly arrived aids specialist to the carandiru penitentiary in sao paulo, we witness the cramped city of interweaving tales of survival going on within the walls. prisoners recount memoirs of their lives outside…
the film making take of a terrible incident inside a prison. we meet it' s prisoners and the horrible fate they faced in real life .
the packaging also lists a short film as a special feature, but it doesn’t appear to have made it to the final pressing of the disc .
the film was nominated for academy awards for best actor in a leading role (nicholson) and best actress in a leading role (streep) .
brazilian md drauzio varella starts aids prevention in brazil' s largest prison, carandiru, in são paulo, where the population is nearly double its 4, 000 maximum. doc learns from experience... see full summary »
babenco himself has resisted suggestions that this film is the
grown - up pixote
. perhaps that' s because the comparison is uncomfortable. the actual grown - up pixote, non - professional actor fernando ramos da silva, had to return to the barrio after making babenco' s famous film. there - illiterate, poor and involved in crime - he was shot dead by police in 1987 at the age of 19. but carandiru certainly shows the pixote generation in various evolutionary stages, from teenagers to very old men .
the setting is grim, but carandiru is easily one of brazilian film - maker hector babenco' s most living, thriving works, with scores of powerful performances and an engaging style underscoring the cathartic power of story - telling. based on a bestselling novel, carandiru concerns an oncologist (luiz carlos vasconcelos) who treats patients at sao paulo' s house of detention, a terrible place largely policed from within by long - time prisoners. the doctor is specifically interested in collecting blood samples for an hiv study, but the more prisoners open up to him, the more compassionate and committed he becomes about their survival. babenco' s episodic structure gives carandiru a dimension of memory and constant shots of energy, so that even the most horrifying events - - drug - related murder, rape, revenge - - can' t drive this tale into abject misery. based on actual events, the drama' s climactic police raid on the prison (a reconstruction of a 1992 riot called the carandiru massacre) is a tour de force. - - tom keogh, urltoken
the film - maker: hector babenco (b1946) grew up in argentina but settled in brazil in 1969. he began directing features in 1975, but made a major international impact with pixote (1981), an account of the appalling life of são paulo street children. babenco spent four years bringing kiss of the spider woman to the screen, casting william hurt in the pivotal role. (puig hated hurt' s performance, despite his winning an oscar .) shortly after completing the film, babenco was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer; his doctor, dráuzio varella, went on to write the prison stories that would become babenco' s most successful film, carandiru (2003) .
how this film came to be made is also a story. babenco is the gifted director of
pixote ,
kiss of the spider woman
and
at play in the fields of the lord .
an illness put him out of action for several years, and he credits his doctor, drauzio varella, with saving his life. as it happens, varella was for years the physician on duty inside the prison, and his memoir, carandiru station, inspired babenco to make this film, with varella as his guide .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
it is very different from city of god. that remarkable film about the slumlands of rio by fernando meirelles and katia lund had a kinetic, dynamic feel; its images and characters seemed to be developing and morphing all the time. carandiru is more measured, and even stately, in the way its old lags - fundamentally respectful - troop through the doctor' s infirmary and recount their autobiographies .
like fernando meirelles' s ultra - violent gangland epic city of god, carandiru has done extremely well at the box office in brazil, grossing more even than the matrix reloaded. the audiences have cut across brazil' s gaping social divide from the poor whose life the film portrays, to the wealthy, curious to know
who these guys we fear so much are
, says babenco .
based on dr. drauzio varella’s phenomenal bestseller, “carandiru station” is a fictionalized account of his experiences working in sao paulo’s infamous house of detention in an aids - prevention program. the film’s haunting treatment of life and death owes much to babenco’s fateful encounter with varella (the oncologist who pulled him through his fight with lymphatic cancer, which kept him away from directing for most of the ’90s) .
an interesting film account of the famous uprising at the jail. some violent scenes but a good storyline that keeps your attention for the duration of the movie .
a gritty intense film showing how gruesome prison life can be in brazil. options for different subtitiles in different languages for those wanting to use as a tool .
director of me you them, it was his second feature film, likes
found
real - life stories. from the se, but interest in ne
presented with this analysis of tribeca film festival as a human rights festival, scarlet reaffirms that the thread was unintentional. however, he says, if one film or the totality of films make one think about human rights in the current political sense or in the personal sense, that' s certainly a worthy goal .
the prison massacre ends the argentine - born director hector babenco' s new film carandiru. babenco is no stranger to prison drama - his best - known film, kiss of the spiderwoman, an adaptation of manuel puig' s novel starring john hurt, was set behind bars; pixote also begins with the travails of a young boy in a juvenile detention centre in são paulo. babenco himself admits to the dramatic possibilities of closed communities - a prison being, in a very brazilian metaphor, like
a lift stuck between two floors at the weekend
.
it is the 1980' s, and the setting is the real são paolo house of detention, known as carandiru, which was torn down in 2002, a decade after a riot led to the massacre of 111 inmates by the police. at its peak of occupancy, the prison, designed for 3, 000 men, held 8, 000. when'' carandiru'' was filmed (before the demolition) in an empty cellblock, it still housed 6, 000 .
murderers, rapists, stool pigeons, drug addicts. they were the feared ones, the criminals who really ran carandiru, brazil' s largest correctional facility: ebony, an honorable thief and respected leader; highness, a smooth operator with two families to support; ezequiel, an ex - surfer turned crack addict; dagger, a brutal killer with god on his side. they were among the prison' s elite, the select few who ruled carandiru by their own codes and laws. a rule that would end in bloodshed when 300 policemen stormed the facility and brutally murdered 111 unarmed inmates. this is the true story ofthat infamous day in october 1992, a day that shocked the world. the day of the carandiru massacre .
they all have stories to tell, and carandiru has an amiable portmanteau feel as their tales are rolled out in a series of flashbacks: bizarre, daring crimes, ferocious arguments and domestic wars which end the way they begin: in violent chaos .
carandiru itself is no more. on august 12 last year, 250kg of explosives were detonated at structural points around the compound. great clouds of dust mushroomed out from around cellblock 9' s base; its lower floors fractured, the building shuddered, then buckled, falling back into a mass of rubble. babenco' s film set had been levelled in just seven seconds. politicians hope the demolition will efface the memory of brazil' s worst police massacre, but the success of babenco' s film means that the site will be forever associated with the events of october 1992 .
film opens on the aftermath of an attempted murder in the prison that took place when a young man recognized the violent dagger (milhem cortaz) as his father’s killer .
was an official selection at the 2003 cannes film festival i’d only heard of it in passing a few weeks before its release. its relative anonymity is rather an injustice, as this is a film that deserves to build a strong reputation, and to be seen by a wide audience. whilst it doesn’t quite manage the must see status of
it is narrated from the point of view of an indulgent and approachable doctor (luiz carlos vasconcelos) brought in to educate the inmates about aids, and the film is based on the prison memoir carandiru station by dr drauzio varella. the laidback medic becomes the confidant of many of the jail' s ripest characters, known only by their nicknames: weasles, ebony, highness, the beard, minimum wage, greenhouse joe .
after watching
carandiru ,
one recalls the movie' s inmates with sadness, the doctor with affection, the prison with fear and loathing and the movie with that sure, strong recognition you feel after seeing, for the first time, a classic .
hector babenco' s
carandiru
is a drama that adds a human dimension to that dantean vision. shot on location inside a notorious prison in sao paolo, it shows 8, 000 men jammed into space meant for 4, 000, and enforcing their own laws in a place their society has abandoned. the film, based on life, climaxes with a 1992 police attack on the prison during which 111 inmates were killed .
prisons don' t come much meaner than the são paulo carandiru penitentiary, a decrepit cell block overcrowded with brazil' s most violent criminals. it' s a tinderbox just waiting for a spark to ignite it, which is exactly what happened one fateful day in 1992 when riot police stormed the building. based on the bestseller by real - life prison doc dráuzio varella (played by luiz carlos vasconcelos), the sprawling carandiru is funny, violent, and shocking. in short, it' s worth doing time for .
film director of teen mothers. social issue docs early in career (including street children), returns here. inspired by discussion of social issues as president lula was elected .
a marvellous version of a true story that enfolds from a doctor entering this terrible prison for the first time to a terrible disaster that happened. you can always tell a good foreign film when you don' t notice the subtitles and this is definitely such a film. the character development is fabulous as are the stories that are told. definitely worth seeing
dráuzio varella, besides his recognized work on oncology and preventive medicine, succeeded in writing a humane and revealing book about the complex and polemical universe of the largest prison in the country, carandiru. a book that opened wide the cracks of the secret universe of jails .
a doctor starts aids prevention in brazil’s largest prison, carandiru, in são paulo, where the population is nearly double its 4, 000 maximum. doc learns from experience the tragic stories of hideous crimes which landed scum there and the passionate dramas behind otherwise decent people .
a young doctor (vasconcelos) starts regularly visiting carandiru, an open prison in sao paulo housing 7, 000 inmates. initially going there to teach them how to avoid getting aids, he quickly becomes a trusted figure to whom the often oddball cons tell their stories .
it is through the documentary material of carandiru and the fictional one (scenes from hector babenco’s movie) that the relations of what is documentary and what is fiction, and the truth in these two kinds of images, will interact. sometimes in agreement, sometimes in opposition .
more importantly, this careful introduction also allows the viewer to develop an attachment towards the characters, which makes the tragic events of its final third all the more devastatingly affecting. if you let yourself become immersed in carandiru, the journey it takes you on is quite remarkable .
worth more than the dvd' s price alone, this film documents and details the film' s story from its initial option to its critical reception and legacy. director david weisman, who also produced kiss of the spider woman, comes off as rightful creative force behind the production, as it was his passion before becoming babenco' s and the leads' .
the movie observes laconically that the police were
defending themselves ,
even though 111 prisoners and no police were killed. the prison was finally closed in 2002, and the film' s last shot shows it being leveled by dynamite. strange, how by then we have grown to respect some of the inmates and at least understand others .
bus 174
is a reminder that although carandiru has disappeared, prison conditions in brazil continue to be inhuman .
babenco, of course, is most famous for his jolting, strong 1980 film on brazilian juvenile delinquency ,
pixote ,
and for his 1985 oscar winner from manuel puig' s
kiss of the spider woman .
in the' 90s he was largely inactive due to illness, and it was varella, his doctor, who saved him from lymphatic cancer. (fitting, it was babenco who first encouraged the doctor to put carandiru to paper. )
we know the massacre is going to happen from the off, and yet, despite this, the tension doesn' t build much, perhaps because the film is over - long .
scarlet says there was no overall theme chosen by the committees that picked the documentary films. and yet, there were two films on carandiru, the now dismantled brazilian prison notorious for murders and other human rights violations committed by both inmates and guards. hector babenco' s fiction film will certainly get the greater amount of attention, but the brutal images from director paulo sacramento' s documentary prisoner of the iron bars are the ones that could neither be scripted nor easily digested .
carandiru station
as a book became one of the all - time brazilian best - sellers. but as a movie i suspect it is much more: a lusty, scary realization of a true - life prison world that appalls us with its strangeness and stuns us with its truth .
in 1987, varella had embarked on an ambitious project. he had decided to research the incidence of hiv infection inside carandiru - a confined, unsanitary environment where anal sex and intravenous drug use were rife. but his investigations would develop into something much more than a dry, epidemiological study. varella became engrossed in carandiru, the set - up, the inmates and their lives, and ended up volunteering his services each monday for over a decade. and by telephone or at his bedside, he began telling babenco of his experiences inside one of latin america' s largest prisons .
production: a sony pictures classics release (in u. s .) of a sony pictures classics and hb filmes in association with columbia tristar do brasil, globo filmes and br petrobas presentation. (international sales: columbia tristar film distributors intl .) produced by hector babenco. co - produced by flavio r. tambellini, fabiano gullane. directed by hector babenco. screenplay, victor nava, babenco, fernando bonassi, based on the book
carandiru station
by drauzio varella .
the film' s fantastic eye for detail, both in its writing and visuals, makes this a rich, invigorating and ultimately extremely moving experience. a superb example of storytelling at its finest .
dr. varella, played in the film by luiz carlos vasconcelos, originally went to carandiru when aids was still a new disease; he lectures on the use of condoms, advises against sharing needles, but is in a society where one of his self - taught assistants sews up wounds without anesthetic or sanitation. the prisoners come to trust the doctor and confide in him, and as some of them tell their stories, the movie uses flashbacks to show what they did to earn their sentences .
the brilliance of carandiru comes from babenco audaciously taking up much of the film' s time simply building up his characters, with the inmates who tell their stories to the doctor becoming much more than just faceless criminals. spending time with these extravagantly quirky individuals is exhilarating rather than boring, as these are people like pre - op transsexual lady di, lovestruck bigamist highness and doctor' s helper lula, who smokes crack so that he can
see the veins glow
when he' s sewing patients up .
this altmanesque weave of multiple story and superb ensemble cast is strong in every component: writing, acting, visualization. but, above all it is a film beautifully directed, made with truly intense involvement .
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hector babenco was born in buenos aires, argentina in 1946. at 19, he left for europe where he was an extra in italian and spanish films. in 1969 he came to brazil. his directorial debut was a documentary the fabulous fittipaldi in 1973. his film lúcio flávio, passenger of agony was the box - office success. his next film - pixote: the law of the weakest (1980) - was to earn him international recognition. the international prestige of pixote: the law of the weakest was followed up by the director' s next film - the kiss of the spider woman (1984) .
in examining social ills, mr. babenco is the furthest thing from a detached clinician. beneath its documentarylike sprawl,'' carandiru'' is a hands - on movie passionately engaged in its characters' personal dramas. even dagger, the coldblooded killer - for - hire, is eventually revealed to have a tormented conscience. the film' s unwavering belief in redemption makes its savage brutality palatable, if at times suspiciously sentimental. no matter how vicious the behavior, there are always explanations and a possibility of something better .
discovery channel, through its theatrical division, discovery docs, didn' t greenlight with all deliberate speed until october 2003; following its tribeca showing, the film opened in five major cities in mid - may .
dr. drauzio varella wrote the original book at the encouragement of a patient he was treating for lymphatic cancer. that very patient happened to be hector babenco, who recovered and went on to direct the film adaptation .
despite the celebrities, despite the hoopla, despite the many journalistic attempts to compare it to cannes and sundance, the third tribeca film festival is still relentlessly defined as much by the audience as by the films themselves .
justice has also been slow to deal with the perpetrators of the carandiru massacre. colonel guimarães even managed to run for political office, his ballot ticket
111
a reference to the prison death - toll. it was not until july 2001, after years of stalling and cover - ups, that he was finally brought to trial. he was duly sentenced to 632 years in prison, but is still free pending an appeal and remains unrepentant, lampooning babenco' s film in the press, even trying to block its release through the courts .
carandiru, detention center, a place of cruelty, of human remains, of violence, of exception? a secret and forbidden place, but strangely so close to us all? to plunge into the movie will mean to know life and death within those walls. to understand the silence and the screams behind gates so well shut .
a brazilian writer of the modernist school. he was the best known of modern brazilian writers, his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably dona flor and her two husbands in 1978 .
the panelists also took on the subject of the tricky issue of payments. spellbound director jeff blitz admitted that although most of the participants saw the project as a student film and thought it very noble, one family not only wanted to get paid, but also wanted more money for each round that its child won. ultimately, he said, the family saw its section of the film, fell in love with it and took back their demands .
the research for the book and for the film involved testimonies by inmates and ex - convicts and a large research on the prison’s everyday life. dráuzio varella conducted an important and unprecedented work of aids prevention in the detention center .
eight drafts of the script later, the filming began. parts of babenco' s carandiru were shot inside the prison itself - then a political embarrassment after the massacre and in the process of being decommissioned. babenco had filmed there before for certain scenes in kiss of the spiderwoman and returned partly for authenticity, partly as a cost - cutting drive .
but there' s a small, troubling hole at the center of the movie. when all is said and done, the calm, sympathetic doctor who volunteers his services at carandiru and becomes a trusted visitor remains a benign cipher, an almost entirely forgettable presence. despite its confusion and the broadness of many of its strokes, the movie belongs to a latin american tradition of heartfelt social realism in which the struggles of ordinary people assume a heroic dimension. the film is undeniably the work of an artist with the strength to gaze into the abyss and return, his humanity fortified .
the film, which opens today in new york and los angeles, is a splashy return to form by mr. babenco, the celebrated director of'' pixote'' and'' kiss of the spider woman.'' in some ways, it is an update of'' pixote,'' the portrait of a 10 - year - old runaway and petty criminal in são paulo that made mr. babenco internationally famous more than two decades ago. any one of several violent characters in'' carandiru'' could be a boy like pixote, grown up and hardened .
this half hour look behind the scenes is more interesting than any hollywood glossy promotional package, and makes for very interesting viewing. the film was shot in the real carandiru prison, just before it was spectacularly demolished, from a viewing standpoint that gives this a creepy aura, and it’s clear that there were people that felt the same about shooting there. what is also particularly evident is the passion hector babenco has for this film, watching him direct his cast makes you feel he’d love to be able to get in front of the camera and play every part himself, he knows exactly what he wants from even the smallest role, and he’s remarkably articulate in conveying feelings he needs the actors to invoke. it’s a great behind the scenes look, and whilst not worthy of documentary status it’s still a fine half hours viewing .
set in são paulo' s house of detention, locally known as carandiru. an oncologist arrives at the jail to test patients for hiv infection. seeing the disease, overcrowding, and rampant circulation of drugs, the doctor comes to realize the internal power structure among the prisoners. narratives develop, including the attempted murder of dagger, the solitary confinement of chico, and the romance between lady di and too bad. the doctor eventually begins to see the prisoners as survivors. culminates with a violent conclusion: a dramatization of the october 2, 1992 prison riot known as the carandiru massacre, in which 111 prisoners are killed. in portuguese with optional english, french, chinese, korean, or thai subtitles. dvd .
shooting the climactic massacre scene, the problems were more logistical: with 1, 000 extras - some of whom were former inmates at carandiru - horses, dogs and heavy weaponry, the prison yard was transformed into something like it might have been on the day of the killings: a maelstrom of orders shouted through megaphones, chaotic movements of people and general confusion .
carandiru is estimated to end its run with 4. 5m to 4. 7madmissions, still a far cry from bruno barreto' s dona flor and her twohusbands in 1975 which drew 10. 7madmissions. however, market conditions were vastly different in brazil duringthe 1970s when there were more than 3, 000 screens as opposed to the estimated1, 700 currently in operation .
carandiru is a hotbed of drugs and diseases. (aids and tuberculosis lead the list .) the film' s most ominous, most charismatic character, highness (ailton graça), is a handsome, swaggering drug lord who orders inside executions. he also juggles two hot - blooded women, dalva (maria luisa mendonça) and rosirene (aida leiner) in a triangle so loaded with venomous jealousy that sex and violence seem virtually interchangeable. the saddest vignette involves zico (wagner moura) and deusdete (caio blat), childhood friends who grew up on the street and come to senselessly tragic ends .
for these sections, babenco takes us with a great whoosh out of the prison precincts and into the world of crime and opportunity. the film is periodically electrified by these outside - world chapters - thousand - volt shocks to the celluloid system .
where else could you leave a post - screening party at 2: 00 a. m. and walk two blocks for a $ 7 manicure? see smiles light up as a security guard refuses to back down from an arrogant film director trying to sneak into his own screening without a proper pass? have greater access to film tickets by virtue of being a resident new yorker? or be treated to an impromptu sidewalk performance by violinist lorenzo laroc as he waited to enter a screening ?
the film – which is in english, despite being made by spanish director isobel coixet, with pedro almodóvar as executive producer – is quirky, offbeat and charming, and bolstered by fine performances. definitely one for the girls, though. siân stott
the drama' s unprecedentedsuccess can be partly attributed to columbia tristar brazil' s lavish p & acampaign; which cost $ 1. 2m (real 3. 5m). it also had the backing of mediajuggernaut globo which co - producedthe film .
a low - structure, high - involvement brazilian free - for - all destined to take its place among hellish prison films, “carandiru” plants a fist in the viewer’s stomach not so much with violent images (though the ending certainly has enough of them), but through its surprising depiction of the criminal class as emotionally vital human beings. not every viewer will welcome [ … ]
“the grand illusion” (1937) one of jean renoir ’s most recognized and celebrated films, a masterpiece that brought him his first taste of international fame, adored by orson welles, who picked it as his desert - island movie, and the first foreign film to be nominated for a best picture oscar, “ the grand illusion ” has a formidable reputation. and it is totally earned: it’s one of the greatest pow films ever and probably the greatest film about international and interclass brotherhood. french aviators marechal (renoir favorite jean gabin) and boeldieu (a fabulously posh pierre fresnay) go from one prison camp to another, mixing with fellow inmates, plotting escapes and running into aristocratic german captain von rauffenstein (a fantastically rigid erich von stroheim). but the way renoir films these interactions — be it a discussion about restaurants between prison inmates, or about honor vs duty between aristocratic generals — is where the tripartate film’s overarching theme of compassion amid the senselessness of war is best felt. and if you think a film that deal so much in the masculine code might strong - arm any female performance, “ l’atalante “‘s dita parlo makes a late appearance, and in a few short scenes wrings out whatever is left of your heart. an incredible film .
just when the movie threatens to go soft,'' carandiru'' erupts in what may be the most horrific and sustained prison riot ever filmed. by the end of the movie' s jaw - dropping re - creation of the 1992 mass slaughter by the police (who lost none of their own), its stairs are ankle - deep in streaming blood, mud and trash.
carandiru is a 2003 brazilian drama film directed by héctor babenco . it is based on the book estação carandiru by dr. drauzio varella , a physician and aids specialist , who is portrayed in the film by luiz carlos vasconcelos . carandiru tells some of the stories that occurred in carandiru penitentiary , which was the biggest prison in latin america . the story culminates with the 1992 massacre where 111 prisoners were killed , 102 by police . the film was the last thing for which the prison was used before it was demolished in 2002 , one year before the release of the film . babenco states that carandiru is the “ most realistic film [ he ’s ] ever made , ” presenting a new kind of brazilian realism inspired by cinema novo ( not only is it meant to portray different sides of brazil , but also it was shot on location and used many actual prisoners as actors ) . due to this focus on portraying reality and the film ’s memoir inspiration , carandiru can be read as a docudrama or as a testimony from the prisoners . 
carandiru is a 2003 brazilian drama film directed by héctor babenco. it is based on the book estação carandiru by dr. drauzio varella, a physician and aids specialist, who is portrayed in the film by luiz carlos vasconcelos. carandiru tells some of the stories that occurred in carandiru penitentiary, which was the biggest prison in latin america. the story culminates with the 1992 massacre where 111 prisoners were killed, 102 by police. the film was the last thing for which the prison was used before it was demolished in 2002, one year before the release of the film. babenco states that carandiru is the “ most realistic film [ he ’s ] ever made, ” presenting a new kind of brazilian realism inspired by cinema novo (not only is it meant to portray different sides of brazil, but also it was shot on location and used many actual prisoners as actors). due to this focus on portraying reality and the film ’s memoir inspiration, carandiru can be read as a docudrama or as a testimony from the prisoners.
carandiru is a 2003 brazilian drama film directed by héctor babenco. it is based on the book estação carandiru by dr. drauzio varella, a physician and aids specialist, who is portrayed in the film by luiz carlos vasconcelos. carandiru tells some of the stories that occurred in carandiru penitentiary, which was the biggest prison in latin america. the story culminates with the 1992 massacre where 111 prisoners were killed, 102 by police. the film was the last thing for which the prison was used before it was demolished in 2002, one year before the release of the film. babenco states that carandiru is the “ most realistic film [ he ’s ] ever made, ” presenting a new kind of brazilian realism inspired by cinema novo (not only is it meant to portray different sides of brazil, but also it was shot on location and used many actual prisoners as actors). due to this focus on portraying reality and the film ’s memoir inspiration, carandiru can be read as a docudrama or as a testimony from the prisoners.