Narrative, Visibility, and Trauma in Bus 174

Abstract

On June 12, 2000, 35 million television sets in Brazil tuned in to the live broadcast of a bus hijack in Rio de Janeiro. Surrounded by the police, cameras, and bystanders, the perpetrator, whom we later learned to be called Sandro do Nascimento, stuck his head out the window and shouted that what was being witnessed was not an “action movie.” Uttered by a man the police had been addressing by the fake name of Sérgio (following protocol in hostage negotiations), these words accidentally touched on a question that is at the core of Ônibus 174 (Bus 174, José Padilha, 2002), and which still haunts documentary filmmaking—the intersection between reality and fiction.