On June 14, 2000, a young man stepped onto a city bus in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, with the intention of robbing the passengers. The mugging turned into a frenzied hostage ordeal broadcast live on television for four and a half hours, and became known to Brazilians as the infamous Bus 174 Affair. Taking advantage of the dramatic footage shot that day, filmmaker Jose Padhila masterfully tells this story, building momentum to a climactic ending, while slowly turning the tale inside out until it becomes more than just an afternoon of horror for Brazilians. Somewhere in the telling, the veiled hostage-taker emerges as a boy with a face and a name, forced to live as a street kid after society systematically denied him any kind of social existence. Intense and unforgettable.  RS