Carandiru (film)
Encyclopedia
Carandiru is a 2003 Brazilian and Argentine film directed by Hector Babenco
. It is based on the book Estação Carandiru (Carandiru Station) 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 the prison was used for before it was demolished in 2002, one year before the release of the film.
notorious prison Carandiru, one of Latin America's largest and most violent prison systems.
Dr. Drauzio Varella
arrives at the prison as a volunteer to test the prisoners for the deadly HIV
infection.
Seeing the disease, overcrowding and rampant circulation of drugs, the Doctor realizes much of the prison is controlled by the inmates. They decorate their cells and have an established pecking order. The strong inhabit messy individual suites and the weak are jammed together, as many as sixteen sharing a 100 square feet (9.3 m²) cell.
Several narratives develop in the film: the attempted murder of Peixeira, the solitary confinement
of Chico and the romance between Lady Di and No Way.
Dr. Varella establishes a routine and comes to see the prisoners as survivors.
The movie ends with a violent prison riot
that historically took place on October 2, 1992. The repression of the riot became known as the Carandiru Massacre
.
fashion he used a huge cast of novice actors — some of whom are former inmates.
on March 21, 2003. It opened wide in Brazil on April 11, 2003. It was the highest-grossing Brazilian film of the year and third overall (behind Bruce Almighty
and The Matrix Reloaded
), attracting over 4.6 million spectators.
Later the film was entered into the 2003 Cannes Film Festival
in France on May 19.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toronto Film Festival, Canada
; the Hamburg Film Festival, Germany
; the Edda Film Festival, Ireland
; the Muestra Internacional de Cine, Mexico
; the Sundance Film Festival
, USA; the Bangkok International Film Festival
, Thailand
; and others.
In the United States
it opened on a limited basis on May 14, 2004.
, appreciated the realism of the drama, and wrote, "Hector Babenco's Carandiru is a drama that adds a human dimension [a] ...Dantean vision. Shot on location inside a notorious prison in São Paulo, it shows 8,000 men jammed into space meant for 2,000, 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...[the film] is a reminder that although Carandiru has disappeared, prison conditions in Brazil continue to be inhuman."
Stephen Holden, film critic for The New York Times
, liked the film and its social message, and wrote, "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."
Critic Jamie Russell wrote, "Making his point without resorting to liberal hand-wringing, Babenco charts the climactic violence with steely detachment. Brutal, bloody, and far from brief, it's shocking enough to make us realise that this jailhouse hell really is no city of God."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 68% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on seventy-six reviews.
Hector Babenco
Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....
. It is based on the book Estação Carandiru (Carandiru Station) by Dr. Drauzio Varella
Drauzio Varella
Drauzio Varella, MD, is a Brazilian physician, educator, scientist and noted medical science popularizer in the press and TV, as well as best-selling author...
, a physician and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
specialist, who is portrayed in the film by Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos.
Carandiru tells some of the stories that occurred in Carandiru Penitentiary
Carandiru Penitentiary
Carandiru Penitentiary was a notorious prison located in São Paulo, Brazil. The prison was designed and built by Samuel das Neves in 1920, when it was considered a model-prison to meet the new demands of the 1890 criminal code. It was operational from 1956 to 2002 and, at its peak, was South...
, which was the biggest prison in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. The story culminates with the 1992 massacre
Carandiru Massacre
The Carandiru massacre took place on Friday, October 2, 1992 in Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, and is considered a major human rights violation in the history of Brazil.-History:...
where 111 prisoners were killed, 102 by Police. The film was the last thing the prison was used for before it was demolished in 2002, one year before the release of the film.
Plot
This episodic story is set in São Paulo'sSão Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
notorious prison Carandiru, one of Latin America's largest and most violent prison systems.
Dr. Drauzio Varella
Drauzio Varella
Drauzio Varella, MD, is a Brazilian physician, educator, scientist and noted medical science popularizer in the press and TV, as well as best-selling author...
arrives at the prison as a volunteer to test the prisoners for the deadly HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
infection.
Seeing the disease, overcrowding and rampant circulation of drugs, the Doctor realizes much of the prison is controlled by the inmates. They decorate their cells and have an established pecking order. The strong inhabit messy individual suites and the weak are jammed together, as many as sixteen sharing a 100 square feet (9.3 m²) cell.
Several narratives develop in the film: the attempted murder of Peixeira, the solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
of Chico and the romance between Lady Di and No Way.
Dr. Varella establishes a routine and comes to see the prisoners as survivors.
The movie ends with a violent prison riot
Prison riot
A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners in attempt to force change or express a grievance....
that historically took place on October 2, 1992. The repression of the riot became known as the Carandiru Massacre
Carandiru Massacre
The Carandiru massacre took place on Friday, October 2, 1992 in Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, and is considered a major human rights violation in the history of Brazil.-History:...
.
Cast
- Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos as Dr. Drauzio VarellaDrauzio VarellaDrauzio Varella, MD, is a Brazilian physician, educator, scientist and noted medical science popularizer in the press and TV, as well as best-selling author...
- Rodrigo SantoroRodrigo SantoroRodrigo Junqueira dos Reis Santoro is a Brazilian actor.-Life and career:Santoro was born in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He is of half Brazilian and half Italian descent. In 1993, as Santoro was studying Journalism at PUC-Rio, he entered the Actor's Workshop of Rede Globo...
as Lady Di - Milton GonçalvesMilton GonçalvesMilton Gonçalves is a Brazilian actor. He worked in many telenovelas, including A Cabana do Pai Tomás, Irmãos Coragem, O Bem Amado, O Espigão, Pecado Capital, Sinal de Alerta, O Pulo do Gato, Baila Comigo, Partido Alto, Mandala, Araponga and Felicidade...
as Chico - Lázaro RamosLázaro RamosLuís Lázaro Sacramento Ramos is an Emmy Award-nominated Brazilian actor. He started his acting career with the Flock of Olodum Theater group, in Salvador, and is best known for his portrayal of João Francisco dos Santos in the 2002 film Madame Satã...
as Ezequiel - Caio BlatCaio BlatFor other uses of the term, see CaioCaio Blat de Oliveira is a Brazilian stage, television and film actor. He studied Law at USP, one of the biggest universities in Brazil, but dropped out because of his acting career...
as Deusdete - Milhem CortazMilhem CortazMilhem Cortaz is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and television.Cortaz' first role came on the 2000 film Mater Dei, written by Diogo Mainardi, where he portrayed a security guard. On 2002, he premiered on the television with a minor character on Rede Globo's unsuccessful telenovela Desejos de...
as Peixeira - Wagner MouraWagner MouraWagner Maniçoba Moura is a Brazilian film, television and stage actor. Moura graduated in journalism at Universidade Federal da Bahia but decided to become an actor....
as Zico - Floriano PeixotoFloriano Peixoto (actor)Floriano Peixoto Cordeiro de Farias, known as Floriano Peixoto is a Brazilian film and television actor from Rio de Janeiro.In 2007 he married the actress Christine Fernandes, with whom he had a son.-Television:...
as Antônio Carlos - Rita CadillacRita Cadillac (Brazilian dancer)Rita de Cássia Coutinho, known as Rita Cadillac, is a Brazilian dancer and singer. She took her stage name from Rita Cadillac, an acclaimed French dancer of the 1950s and 1960s...
as Herself - Gero Camilo as No Way
- Ivan de Almeida as Ebony
- Ailton Graça as Majestade
- Maria Luisa Mendonça as Dalva
- Aida Leiner as Rosirene
- Júlia Ianina as Francineide
- Sabrina Greve as Catarina
- Nelson Machado as Carioca
Background
Director Hector Babenco shot the film on location in the actual penitentiary, and in neo-realistNeorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
fashion he used a huge cast of novice actors — some of whom are former inmates.
Distribution
The film was first presented at the II Panorama Internacional Coisa de Cinema in BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
on March 21, 2003. It opened wide in Brazil on April 11, 2003. It was the highest-grossing Brazilian film of the year and third overall (behind Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. It stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains to God that He isn't doing His job correctly, and is then offered the chance to try...
and The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
), attracting over 4.6 million spectators.
Later the film was entered into the 2003 Cannes Film Festival
2003 Cannes Film Festival
The 2003 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Elephant by Gus Van Sant.-Jury:* Patrice Chéreau, President * Aishwarya Rai * Meg Ryan * Karin Viard...
in France on May 19.
The picture was screened at various film festivals, including: the Toronto Film Festival, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; the Hamburg Film Festival, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
; the Edda Film Festival, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
; the Muestra Internacional de Cine, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
; the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, USA; the Bangkok International Film Festival
Bangkok International Film Festival
The Bangkok International Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Bangkok, Thailand, since 2003. In addition to film screenings, seminars, gala events and the Golden Kinnaree Awards.-First years:...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
; and others.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
it opened on a limited basis on May 14, 2004.
Critical reception
Roger Ebert, critic of the Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, appreciated the realism of the drama, and wrote, "Hector Babenco's Carandiru is a drama that adds a human dimension [a] ...Dantean vision. Shot on location inside a notorious prison in São Paulo, it shows 8,000 men jammed into space meant for 2,000, 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...[the film] is a reminder that although Carandiru has disappeared, prison conditions in Brazil continue to be inhuman."
Stephen Holden, film critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, liked the film and its social message, and wrote, "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."
Critic Jamie Russell wrote, "Making his point without resorting to liberal hand-wringing, Babenco charts the climactic violence with steely detachment. Brutal, bloody, and far from brief, it's shocking enough to make us realise that this jailhouse hell really is no city of God."
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 68% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on seventy-six reviews.
Awards
Wins- Havana Film FestivalHavana Film FestivalThe Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Spanish-language filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as Festival of New Latinamerican Cinema of La Havana.The festival takes place...
: Audience Award; Glauber Rocha Award; House of the Americas Award; OCIC Award; Radio Havana Award; aúl Yelín Award; Special Jury Prize; all for Hector Babenco; 2003. - Cinema Brazil: Cinema Brazil Grand Prize; Best Adapted Screenplay, Hector Babenco, Fernando Bonassi, and Victor Navas; Best Director, Hector Babenco; 2004.
- Cartagena Film FestivalCartagena Film FestivalThe Cartagena Film Festival, or Festival Internacional de Cine y T.V. de Cartagena de Indias. is a Colombian film festival which focuses on the promotion of Colombian television programs, Latin American films, and videos...
, ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
: Golden India Catalina; Best Film, Hector Babenco; 2004. - ABC Cinematography Award, Brazil: ABC Trophy Feature Film; Best Sound, Romeu Quinto, Miriam Biderman, and Reilly Steele; 2004.