Review of Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) by Nesbitt10 — 04 Feb 2013

The sprawling ghetto's that surround Rio de Janeiro are some of the most dangerous places in the world... and it's Captain Nascimento's (Wagner Moura) job to take down the cartels that run them. Building on the success of 2007's "Elite Squad", Padilha's sequel offers another deeply compelling insight into the state of Rio's law enforcement and political system, showing the true depths of the city's social problems as an institutionalized pandemic.

This sequel opens with a prison riot, and a prison-hostage situation turns into a blood bath. Nascimento becomes embroiled in a political feud with his superiors and the media, which denounce Nascimento's prohibitively bloody strategies. Rio's perpetually endangered populace feels differently, however. They see in Nascimento a heroic figure who can stem the spillover from the violence-prone, gang-run ghetto's into a proper city. Due to the increasing popularity of Nascimento, the Governor invites him to team-up with the intelligence area of the Secretary of Security. When he's given this position, he thinks he'll finally be able to finish the job but instead finds out that he's only made things easier for the dirty cops and corrupt politicians that are truly running the show. Nascimento and the BOPE expel the drug dealers from the slums, an effort to eradicate pay offs to dirty cops--but another enemy arises: a militia police force supported by the Governor, that take over the slums for themselves. The fact that the film's backstory is deeply rooted in Brazilian politics power, corruption, and lies only adds to the dreadful tension that permeates the film. "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" presents the question--which is worse: the dirty politicians who run the city, or the violent cartels who oversee the slums? Padilha's film offers no easy answers, but the title is a tip off as to where at least his sympathies lie. The performances are solid across the board, though Moura is the only actor who is given a three-dimensional character. His strained relationship with his son and ex-wife most notably. The other major players are presented in rather broad strokes; easily recognizable which allow us to keep moving forward without much confusion. Still, even during its slickest Hollywood-style action sequences, it's hard to ignore the unyielding, socially conscious anger which fuels the movie. The action sequences are swift, violent and sharply-crafted; designed as simultaneously thrilling and stomach-churning affairs. While "The Enemy Within" is not as punchy as its trigger-happy predecessor "Elite Squad" (2007), the film remains an intriguing slice of drama with the advantage of a much more balanced standpoint.The gritty documentary-style filmmaking serves the story well, and the screenplay (a collaboration between director Jose Padilha and "City of God" writer Braulio Mantovani) maintains our interest with a well-constructed storyline. Previous crime dramas such as "City of God" (2002), "Carandiru" (2003) and Padhila's own 2002 debut "Bus 174" have helped make Brazilian cinema an important tool for spreading awareness as well as an internationally critically acclaimed medium thankfully, "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" successfully continues with this trajectory.