83
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanTense, engrossing, and superbly structured, Bus 174 is not just unforgettable drama but a skillfully developed argument.
- 90The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasEdited with an impeccable sense of timing and rhythm, with each new revelation and insight planted at just the right moment, Bus 174 examines an already gripping story from a moving and untold perspective.
- 88New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanIt is to Padilha's enormous credit that he steadfastly kicks aside our own culturally imposed frames of reference, insisting that we see the truth, and the humanity, within this very real story.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAlthough it shares a bitter interest in slum desperation with last year's Brazilian-underbelly docudrama ''City of God,'' Bus 174 pulls ahead, I think, by not confusing cinematic pizzazz with the content of misery.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterThis gripping Brazilian documentary shows a bus hijacking that spirals out of control because of police incompetence.
- 80The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensSo wrenching and absorbing that you can easily lose sight of the sophistication of its techniques.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoThe drivel they call "reality TV" pales in comparison with the gripping big-screen documentary Bus 174.
- 70Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderPadilha allows neither easy answers nor ironic commentary, producing on both sides of the conflict a world of inconsolable grief.
- 70Film ThreatMerle BertrandFilm ThreatMerle BertrandAn amazingly powerful piece of cinema. Actually, it's more an amazingly powerful piece of news journalism; the kind of in-depth stories told in all their complexity that such fluff American network "news" magazines as "Dateline" could only dream about telling.
- 50VarietyDeborah YoungVarietyDeborah YoungA tense documentary with multiple layers of meaning.