Carandiru

Carandiru (2003) is Héctor Babenco's Brazilian prison drama, and you can watch online on iFILM. It draws on the memoirs of physician Dráuzio Varella, who treated inmates inside São Paulo's vast House of Detention — once the largest jail in Latin America.

The doctor arrives to run an HIV-prevention program and slowly comes to know the men behind the cell numbers. One by one, prisoners hand him their stories: the crime, the woman, the thing that broke. Among the crowded blocks you'll find characters played by Rodrigo Santoro, Lázaro Ramos and Wagner Moura. Hanging over all of it is what came in October 1992, when a crackdown on a riot left 111 men dead.

Babenco shot inside the real Casa de Detenção shortly before it was torn down, keeping the camera close to faces and refusing easy verdicts. The film took festival prizes and stands among Brazil's defining pictures of its decade. Stream Carandiru (2003) online on iFILM.