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LAST STOP 174 (Última Parada 174)

With Michel Gomes , Marcello Melo Junior , Chris Vianna , Jana Guinoud , Gabriela Luiz , Rodrigo dos Santos , Douglas Silva , Vitor Carvalho , Ramom Francisco , Lucas Rodrigues , Yasmine Luyindula

Written by Bráulio Mantovani
Directed by Bruno Barreto

Knowing this tale (based on a true incident) was penned by City Of God screenwriter Bráulio Mantovani, it is a given that this will not be a happy story...
Set in the favela slums of Brazil (as with City Of God and City Of Men), the viewer is taken along the heartbreaking route of a boy named Sandro who falls into drugs and crime after his mother is murdered. After landing in a youth detention center, a group of them escape and he befriends who was initially his worst enemy, Ale.
Once a drug addict, Maria was thrown out in the street and her baby Alessandro taken from her by her gangster boyfriend. Many years later she'd found God and started the search for her lost child. She believes Sandro to be her boy...
Within this dangerous and grimy environment, Sandro survives, but in a culmination of events, including his prostitute fiancé and shattered dream of becoming a rap star, he takes a drastic, deadly step.
The hardness, violence and cruelty depicting this situation in Brazil has many parallels with South Africa, but except for Tsotsi, it hasn't really been explored on film to the extent that they have in the shadow of the Sugar Loaf Mountain.

A documentary of the bus-jacking incident in this film consisted entirely of actual news footage, and a piece on that would've made for a great extra feature.

5 / C
- Paul Blom


1 2 3 4 5 6
A
- B - C

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6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

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