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Amazon.com
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, Amazon.com
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Portuguese ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Arabic ( Subtitles ), Czech ( Subtitles ), Danish ( Subtitles ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), Greek ( Subtitles ), Hebrew ( Subtitles ), Hindi ( Subtitles ), Hungarian ( Subtitles ), Icelandic ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), Polish ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: The human life teeming through this sprawling portrait of Brazil's criminal class crowded within a notorious penitentiary exudes a throbbing flesh-and-blood intensity that's so compelling it's impossible to avert your eyes. Watching this messy epic feels a little like being jammed into an un-air-conditioned subway car on a steamy summer night as it rattles through an urban wasteland. At any second, things could explode. And eventually they do. It is the 1980's, and the setting is Sao Paolo's real-life House of Detention, which was torn down in 2002, a decade after a riot led to the massacre of 111 inmates by the police. The film is a splashy return to form by the celebrated director of "Pixote" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman." In examining social ills, it interweaves multiple stories of the prisoners' lives as viewed by a doctor volunteering his services. Below its documentary-like sprawl, "Carandiru" is a hands-on movie passionately engaged in its characters' personal dramas. Just when it threatens to go soft, it erupts in what may be the most horrific prison riot ever filmed. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, Cartagena Film Festival, ...Carandiru ( Carandirú )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I bought and watched this film last night on a whim and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have no great expertise in this area, nor can I mention comparable film directors. All I can say is that this film is well worth giving a try. Based in a penitentiary in Sao Paulo the film is centred on a group of very unlikely lead characters following how they got into the prison and the manner of life they have therein. In an amazing way the film somehow manages inject a bit of humour into the miserable anarchic surroundings of the prison. Based on a true story to add the horror and heartache...give it a go...trust me!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Carinduru is the name of a prison that once existed in Brazil. This film reflects the horror and the hope within its walls and some of the terrible events that took place there before its demolition only a decade or so ago. It is impactive, humourous and often upsetting. I shed a few silent tears and I rarely cry. It leaves a lasting impression on the soul.
And if you love the films of Almodovar - you will most probably appreciate this great film.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
What an excellent film - if this was in English is would be ranked as one of the greatest films ever, but sadly it gets brushed to one side as 'world cinema'. Tells the (true) story of the Cirandu Massacre, following a doctor who meets the inmates and finds out their stories. Brilliant film.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
carandiru
deeply disturbing tragic true story. starts slowly showing the characters stories and lives in the prison,finally coming to a unbelieveable conclusion,showing the callous and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by steve
Flawed in pieces, yet very powerful as a whole
Sometimes I wish there was a 4.5 star rating...
There are flaws - the doctor at the center of this prison
story stays a grinning Buddha- like cipher, some of the... Read more
There are flaws - the doctor at the center of this prison
story stays a grinning Buddha- like cipher, some of the... Read more
Published 9 months ago by K. Gordon
Charming and interesting Brazilian prison drama
This Brazilian prison drama has its charms if you can stick with it. The film is serious in subject yet lighter than expected, with a dry black humour lying through it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by T. BROOKES
A Compelling Film
I first rented this film while living in Piaui, it is a compelling must watch prison drama. Based on a true story the film explores how each character ended up in prison and how... Read more
Published 10 months ago by T. W. Marshall
Intense
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.
Published 17 months ago by O. Dairo
Good film for those who know Brazil
An interesting film with a dark twist, Carandiru tells the story of one of the world's most notorious jails. Read more
Published on 24 May 2010 by J. P. Grey
Dramatic and mesmerising
This is a spectacle to watch as it delves in to the social groups within a South American prison. The groups reflect a sense of order that is thrown into chaos by dramatic... Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2009 by D. Lockhart
An exemplary true story
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. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2008 by Ms. J. H. Brocklehurst
A good film with the usual flaws of the Brazilian filming tradition
I am not sure whether Brazilians (including myself) realise how frequently Brazilian films suffer from bad editting. Read more
Published on 12 April 2008 by Luis Morais
"The best thing about jail is to get out of it"
"On October 2, 1992, 111 men died at the Sao Paulo Detention Center Carandiru. There were no police deaths. Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2005 by M. B. Alcat
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