Carandiru (film)

Carandiru
Theatre release poster
Directed by	Héctor Babenco
Written by	Héctor Babenco Fernando Bonassi Victor Navas
Based on	Estação Carandiru by Drauzio Varella
Produced by	Héctor Babenco Oscar Kramer
Starring	Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos Rodrigo Santoro Wagner Moura
Cinematography	Walter Carvalho
Edited by	Mauro Alice
Music by	André Abujamra
Production companies	HB Filmes Globo Filmes
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	March 21, 2003 (2003-03-21) (Brazil)
Running time	147 minutes
Countries	Brazil Argentina
Language	Portuguese

Carandiru is a 2003 Brazilian drama film directed by Héctor Babenco. It is based on the book Estação Carandiru by Dr. Drauzio Varella, a physician and AIDS specialist, who is portrayed in the film by Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos.^[1]

Carandiru tells some of the stories that occurred in Carandiru Penitentiary, which was the biggest prison in Latin America. The story culminates with the 1992 massacre where 111 prisoners were killed, 102 by Police. The film was the last thing for which the prison was used before it was demolished in 2002, one year before the release of the film.^[2]

Babenco stated that Carandiru is the “most realistic film [he’s] ever made",^[3] presenting a new kind of Brazilian realism inspired by Cinema Novo (not only is it meant to portray different sides of Brazil, but it was also shot on location and used many actual prisoners as actors).^[4] Due to this focus on portraying reality and the film's memoir inspiration, Carandiru can be read as a docudrama or as a testimony from the prisoners.^[4][5] The film was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 76th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.