For decades, the South American metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has clocked in as staggeringly lethal. Its violence-scarred and blood-strewn ghettos (or "favelas") are regularly patrolled by crazed drug gangs whose open-fire battles with police often spread out onto the main thoroughfares and turn ordinary civilians into casualties. In response, the Brazilian government formed a crack paramilitary force known as the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, or Special Police
Operations Battalion) to take matters into its own hands. Now, director José Padilha's social-consciousness drama Tropa de Elite carries viewers inside of BOPE for a scathing indictment of the cycle of violence that permeates Brazilian society, scripted by 12-year-plus BOPE veteran Rodrigo Pimentel. Wagner Moura (Hector Babenco's Carandiru) stars as Captain Nascimento, the leader of a BOPE unit who is seriously considering retirement in the face of his impending fatherhood. In an effort to pick his successor, he looks to two younger recruits, part-time law student André Matias (André Ramiro) and the bellicose hood Neto (Caio Junqueira) -- but soon recognizes that these naïve men will need to seriously mature before one can take the reins. Inevitably, the events that each encounters on the roughshod Brazilian streets -- particularly a trip to clean up some of the neighborhoods in anticipation of the pope's visit -- begin to shape and redefine them in ways that neither can even begin to anticipate. Meanwhile, BOPE grapples with its own internal problems -- particularly the extreme corruption and underhandedness of each squad leader, whose sideline activities range from resupplying weapons to gangs to the racketeering of strip clubs. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
[José Padilha] recariously pitches the squad's brute force as less a necessary evil than the outgrowth of an existing evil -- a no-win situation that mocks liberal ideals and warps conservative pragmatism into domestic terrorism.
It bears a resemblance to viscerally exciting seventies urban thrillers like The French Connection, in which only the fascists could do what needed to be done.
Given that Brazil, as a Latin American moviemaking powerhouse, steadily produces vibrant, vital films of real impact and humanity, it's a crime itself that Elite Squad may be the only Brazilian film that American audiences see this year.
Trying to address important and serious social issues in this violent world rather than just creating something sensationalistic or exploitative gives Elite Squad an edge over normal police thrillers.
Elite Squad succeeds at putting the worst of the violent spectacles on screen, primarily through a series of nicely staged shootouts and torture sequences.
The film's message is that all of society is corrupt, so it doesn't matter who gets killed. It's a propaganda movie that shows no empathy for its characters or for its audience.
Padilha's style, honed in his hijack documentary Bus 174, is verismo with a vengeance. For two hours the viewer feels as hand-held as the camera, hauled about by the neck.
As for the plot, flashy editing and an over-reliance on jittery handheld cameras mean you'll struggle to tell what's going on - if you haven't already given up by then.
Nothing is clear-cut in this intense brew of brutality, stupidity and genuine tragedy. We're left lamenting that it will go on, unless Brazil engages its brain before its fist.
A pair of young recruits join Rio De Janeiro's police "Elite Squad" and are given the task of cleaning up a gang controlled slum before a papal visit. Infernal Affairs meets Full Metal Jacket in this Brazilian crime drama about a police unit that's a cross between SWAT, Internal Affairs and the Gestapo. They are shown
as a bunch of jackbooted thugs who are the only ones who are incorruptible in the face drug money but at the same time their immoral methods make Guantanomo look all warm and fuzzy in comparison. It has a brutal realism in a similar style to City Of God, but it's really missing the heart and likeable characters that made you care what happened to them. Its blase attitude toward some pretty distasteful fascistic attitudes may be a little hard to swallow but it has gritty action aplenty and some pretty powerful scenes. A sequel showing the story from the point of view of civilians caught in the crossfire could be fantastic.
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