«Crime and Punishment

Movies on Crime in L.A.

Señorita Extraviada (U.S., 2001)

(Missing Young Women) This film tells the haunting story of the more than 200 kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Juárez, Mexico. Visually poetic, yet unflinching in its gaze, this compelling investigation unravels the layers of complicity that have allowed for the brutal murders of women living along the Mexico-U.S. border. Relying on the testimonies of the families of the victims, Señorita Extraviada documents a two-year search for the truth in the underbelly of the new global economy. Director: Lourdes Portillo.

On June 12, 2000, a bus filled with passengers was hijacked in Rio de Janeiro in broad daylight. The kidnapper, Sandro do Nascimento, terrorized his victims for four and a half hours as the whole country watched the drama broadcast live on Brazilian TV. Based on extensive research of stock footage, interviews and official documents, Bus 174 tells 2 parallel stories. Not only does it explain the dramatic events that unfolded as the police tried, and failed, to handle the hijack situation, it also tells the amazing life story of the hijacker, revealing how a typical Rio de Janeiro street kid was transformed into a violent criminal because society systematically denied him any kind of social existence. Both stories are interwoven in such a way that they end up explaining why Brazil, and other countries with similar social and economic problems, are so violent. Portuguese with English subtitles. Director: José Padilha.