At The Movies
Tonight I watched the movie Carandiru at a friend's house. An interesting flick about a doctor in an overcrowded Brazilian prison. The climax of the movie - a prison riot and the police countermeasures that ended it - are depicted in detail. The film was based on a true story and the police raid in question resulted in 112 prisoner deaths.
The raid, as described by the prisoners, showed police firing on those who had previously thrown down their weapons and waved white flags. Cops were gunning down men, execution style, all over the place. Those I was watching it with were slagging the police off, and I could hear the anarchistic cogs turning in their minds. This is what happens when you leave The Man in charge. Abu Ghraib! Camp X-Ray! Baxter!
Hang on, it's only a movie, dammit. This is the reality told by the surviving prisoners. Isn't that setting off some alarm bells, people? Like, take it with a grain of salt, people? No? Fine. I'm going to make a movie about the same event using only the police officers' stories. Here's the gist of it: A group of highly trained and humane police marksmen were target shooting using live ammunition at their training ground within the prison (realistic settings, yadda yadda). During that time, a marauding group of 112 prisoners happened to stray into the police line of fire. This was tragic, but fortunate, as the HIV-addled prisoners were heading over to the convent school next door where they were planning to have their wicked way with the nuns and children there. Believable?
The movie was a good way to pass a couple of hours, and obviously there's no denying that 112 people died in the event it depicts. Did they die in the manner purported, however? Or is my fictitious police story closer to the mark? No doubt, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. That is always best remembered before getting an emotional head of steam up.
The raid, as described by the prisoners, showed police firing on those who had previously thrown down their weapons and waved white flags. Cops were gunning down men, execution style, all over the place. Those I was watching it with were slagging the police off, and I could hear the anarchistic cogs turning in their minds. This is what happens when you leave The Man in charge. Abu Ghraib! Camp X-Ray! Baxter!
Hang on, it's only a movie, dammit. This is the reality told by the surviving prisoners. Isn't that setting off some alarm bells, people? Like, take it with a grain of salt, people? No? Fine. I'm going to make a movie about the same event using only the police officers' stories. Here's the gist of it: A group of highly trained and humane police marksmen were target shooting using live ammunition at their training ground within the prison (realistic settings, yadda yadda). During that time, a marauding group of 112 prisoners happened to stray into the police line of fire. This was tragic, but fortunate, as the HIV-addled prisoners were heading over to the convent school next door where they were planning to have their wicked way with the nuns and children there. Believable?
The movie was a good way to pass a couple of hours, and obviously there's no denying that 112 people died in the event it depicts. Did they die in the manner purported, however? Or is my fictitious police story closer to the mark? No doubt, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. That is always best remembered before getting an emotional head of steam up.
posted by James Waterton at 12:17 am
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