Review of Elite Squad (2007) by Lucy V — 12 Dec 2008

Tropa de elite.

Osso duro de roer.

Pega um pega geral.

Também vai pegar você*.

I've been meaning to talk about this here for a few days...This is already the most seen Brazilian movie of the year! A masterpiece.

It's also a violent movie. A VERY violent movie. OK, so was "City of God" and many others as well. Yes, but this one shows a side not many Brazilian movies choose to take: the main characters are police officers. The movie deals with a truth nobody really wants to deal with - police corruption - and centers in a special squad, the Elite Squad of the original title: the Special Operations Battalion, BOPE, in the Portuguese acronym. The story is told by a Bope captain who has the absolute certainty the ends justify the means - he believes himself above corruption, for he takes no money from anybody and makes no concession to petty crimes, but he fails to see torturing suspects is a form of corruption as well. The movie also shows a middle to rich cla$$ bunch of university kids, who like to blame the system for society's problems all the while hoping the cracks in the system will work for them. All that with a rhythm not usual in Brazilian movies, not to mention awesome action scenes!

So, if you get a chance of seeing it, I think you should...

*(Elite squad/tough bone to chew/gets one gets everybody/will get you too).

Newsupdate: This movie, The Elite Squad, won the Golden Bear for the Best Film in the Berlin Movie Festival.

"Não me chateia que as pessoas amem ou odeiem o filme. O que me cheteia é aguentar essa desonestidade intelectual: acusar Tropa de fascismo é não apenas equivocado, mas também uma forma de se excluir das circunstâncias de que o filme trata e fazer assim um auto-elogio moral" - José Padilha.