Review of Elite Squad (2007) by Callum R — 14 Sep 2010

Brazilian Cinema: A Modern Perspective.

Amongst the lush rolling hills exists a sloping maze of concrete jungle. The beauty is broken as a gunshot erupts within a samba street party. The towering figure of Christ observes the cold violence as His inhabitants flee, now locked in their homes, and cowering against their crumbling walls; sheltered from the stray bullets that so often pass through their only sanctuary. Outside, stands a black child; a look of horror and sickness forms amongst a dawning feeling of remorse that sweeps across his face as he looks down on the weapon. Another day in Rio? Oh come on. Have we not seen enough of this predictable and racist mistreatment of the people and the spectator? Watching the trailer for Elite Squad 2 in a snug Brazilian cinema suggests otherwise, and the carioca (local) middle-class viewing audience lap up yet another picture of celebrated police brutality and crime-ridden squalor. Thus, it seems Brazil?s love affair with Italian neo-realism remains unchanged. Apart of the nation?s diet as rice and bean?s, their film industry has been plagued by the themes of absolute poverty, corruption, crime, drugs, gangs and murder since the 1960?s Cinema Novo movement. These now stand as one of Brazil?s more fashionable and renowned exports, other than coffee and havianas, and its subject matter has never been so profitable. ?Elite Squad?, ?City of God? and ?Favela Rising? are among many trendy titles that line the World Cinema sale section in many of our favourite DVD outlets. However, their popularity in glamorising destitution is rapidly dominating the western world?s perceptions of what is one of the most diverse nations on the planet (those Academy Award nominations are not helping either). Mercifully we are spared some of these atrocities such as ?Antônia,? a musical about favela girls forming a hip-hop group to escape poverty (its ?Jenny from the block? message and fake feel-good factor felt more western than the Slumdog Millionaire mush I had to sit through).

The problems stem from a limited distribution of films in a nation who is already struggling to produce enough annually to count on two hands. Could anywhere in Brazil help restore my faith in world cinema? Thankfully yes. Within a small DVD store in Juiz de Fora I found myself cinematically resuscitated by a mass of genres I did not know existed. From cannibal films to even cheesier rom-com?s than those which have Sarah Jessica Parker?s foot face plastered all over the DVD case, there seemed a film for every occasion. So not all Brazilian?s enjoyed favela film fever it appeared. By trekking through this genre jungle I found ingenious combinations of character-driven and genre-bending films from director?s who at time of production, held their entire film budget in one hand. Perhaps this is slight exaggeration but after viewing such films as ?Saneamento Basico, o Filme? (Basic Sanitation, the Film), a lovable homage to the american B-Movie, and ?O Cheiro Do Ralo? (Drained) a bizarre black-comedy with a truly vile protagonist, it convinced me that creative cinema was alive and well in Brazil, but poorly distributed and with little outside support ( Brazil?s cinematic efforts that reach the UK still taste like the residue forming on the ash tray of Hollywood than anything else truly resembling the nation). Left in a dire position after the United States monopolised Latin America?s cinema industry whilst still an infant, Brazil, unlike the rest of its Spanish speaking neighbours has proved to be one of the few countries preventing near cinematic domination in the continent due to its native lingua (Brazilian-Portuguese) . It is no surprise however that the U.S. has bypassed this, and unsurprisingly Brazil has some of the greatest and largest number of dubbing of films in the world. Stealing many of the world?s talented director?s (a sold-out Walter Salles is a prime target with his darn ?Dark Water?) to make assembly line trash remains a favourite U.S. pastime and even the most independent director can be convinced (namely by a large pay check). Funding is paramount to national cinema survival, a matter which current Brazilian president ?Lula da Silva? has had little trouble with, especially when creating the most expensive Brazilian film ever made; a biopic about his early life, and in an election year??Would you like some political motivation with those beans senhor? So in conclusion, an industry still with financial turmoil, being pillaged by the controlling United States, neglected by an audience who refuse to abandon their TV soap operas, stuck with dramatic ?cosmética da fome? (glossy poverty) films, and attended by the middle-class leaves little hope in representing a country whose 192 million residents all have a story to tell. However, if you dig just a little deeper beneath the cinema surface like I did you will find that Portugal and England did not rob Brazil of all its gold, just don?t join their Elite Squad?

4.0/10.