on october 2 and 1992 and a riot break out at the sao paolo house of detention in carandiru and brazil . by the end of that day and 111 prisoner lay dead and the victim of the riot police who storm the facility and brutally massacre them even after they would surrender their weapon . perhaps the most striking aspect about carandiru be that it doesn not hit u over the head with it subject matter at least not initially and that be . for roughly the first two third of it nearly two and a half hour run time and the film focus on the life and struggle of the prisoner and a see through the eye of the compassionate doctor whose book on the subject serve a the basis for the film . without pass moral judgment and dr. drauzio varella and who have be send there mainly to help stem the spread of aid in the facility and listen sympathetically to the story the men tell regard the crime they commit ( mainly murder ) which lead to their incarceration ( these we see act out in numerous flashback sequence ) . although the prison be tremendously overcrowded and drug use and disease run rampant through the corridor and the condition do not appear to be quite a harsh or hellish a we might have expect them to be before see the movie . for one thing and the men seem to be treat rather decently by the guard who seem to exist in surprisingly small number and actually and the prisoner appear to have more freedom to walk around and interact with one another than we be use to see in american prison ( or and at least and in movie about american prison ) . in fact and so much time be spend explore the relationship problem between the men in their prison and their loved one on the outside that carandiru often feel more like a novela set behind bar than a gritty depiction of life in a human hellhole . but all that change in the last half hour of the film after the riot have begin and we see the prisoner gun down in cold blood and many of them while cower in their cell . it be a brutal and terrify display of raw and inhuman savagery and one that far surpass anything we have see perpetrate by the prisoner themselves . however and writer or director hector babenco ( along with co author fernando bonassi and victor navas ) do not attempt to sanctify or glorify the convict either and for much of what they do to their fellow human being be not too many moral step remove from what the riot squad member eventually do to them . although the filmmaker sympathy clearly lie with the prisoner and who be at least present to u a flaw and three dimensional human being and he be not afraid to show the evil side of these men when he need to as well . the act of violence that the prisoner perpetrate on their victim and each other be convey by the filmmaker with a dispassionate efficiency and awe inspiring swiftness that be indeed chill . a a drama and carandiru could have benefit from a bit of tighten in it early stretch and for the film feel a trifle unfocused and meandering at time . still and by concentrate so intently on the everyday minutia of these men life in prison and babenco certainly help the character to become more real for the viewer and thereby intensify the sense of loss when the tragedy occur . bless with a large and gift cast and carandiru offer a long and sometimes touching and sometimes painful look into a world and an event that would otherwise have remain hidden from the eye of the world .