Elite Squad (2008)

the audience applauded

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

I skipped through the movie because it was in Portugese and not dubbed in English. Now this would not be a problem, if the whole movie was in Portugese or the whole movie in English, but the narration is in English and the People talk Brazilian, like it's some kind of documentation, but then again, even in documentation Portugese people get dubbed and get an English voice. If the whole movie was in Portugese I would just watch with English subtitles and would understand that they haven't even tried to dub the movie because Brazilian people talk so fast and it's not made for the English language. But it is not the case and I don't want to listen to br br br and hue hue and let someone explain me what is going on in English. The plot might be good but I will pass on this one.This is my first review please upvote.

Another movie about the external world of organized inadequacies, this one set in Brazil and also about deep-rooted suffering in the cogs that give rise to that world. We race through, seeing with a certain narrative eye that tries to make sense, so let's see a few observations made by that eye.It lambasts several worlds. The world of corrupt cops who take bribes to do their job and still more bribes to look the other way, seen as ignorant bureaucrats or yet another gang. The world of privileged university kids who like to harp on about power structures but become unwitting cogs in the chain of abuse when they go to the barrio to score drugs for their socially conscious lifestyle. The world of drugs, of course, with petty chieftains ruling their own tribes of hapless kids.It's an angry film; angry at what it sees as the competing selfishness of different tribes only looking to please a narrow self interest. It begins with two rookie cops who it presents as extraordinarily competent and who just want to do work that untangles knots, but become stifled by bureaucracy and ignorance. They finally enlist in the special ops squad to come out on the other end as merciless rambos as the only way to get something done; direct action the only way to cut through the ambiguity and indifference.It doesn't shy away from showing horrible police brutality and not the Dirty Harry cartoon. Kids are beaten, suffocated with plastic bags, and almost raped with a wooden broom to spill the beans. The point here is that it could have airbrushed this view but didn't and chose instead to confront the reality. Had it come out in the US, it would have been the most controversial films that year.But just as we think that in their frantic chase to restore order they end up brutalizing an innocent kid, torture leads them to the right place. In the end this eye comes with its own blindness. It's all a bit of a mess apart from this like we're seeing parts of different episodes of a season of crime TV.

I have never been to south for the Equator and the Portuguese language is unfamiliar to me as well - thus, I have no reliable personal knowledge of the life in the Rio de Janeiro metropolis. However, large cities with fast growth are prone to crime and violence, and police forces are under-financed in "calmer" countries and well. So it is no wonder that greed, poverty and considering authorities as brutal and oppressing (sometimes rightfully) create an atmosphere as depicted in the Tropa de Elite, which won the Best Movie award of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden Bear.All the events, fates and scenes are well depicted, but the flickering camera work, unvaried surrounding (slums) and no signs of hope/improvement make the movie cloddish to follow. The cast is even and strong, without any distinct performances, and it is easy to mix up the characters within the dark, occasional lights, and shootings and arrests. The tensions come and go, and the ending is too sudden... I am hesitant is deciding whether to watch the sequel - although I consider myself as a curios person :) 7/10 from me at present, my hopes were a bit higher.

This movie pictures Brazil's reality in so many different aspects that it's impossible to describe it in a few words. What we watch in it is our everyday... violent events we see on the news and sometimes, unfortunately, we may experience such events in person... or hear them from friends and relatives.It's not just an action movie, it touches deeper trying to show what leads characters to the events depicted in the movie. Jose Padilha (director) successfully presents us stereotypes in such a complex way that they look more than just stereotypes (like "hey, I know a guy just like that character". But maybe it's just because I'm Brazilian).The movie (thanks to Padilha, very well developed) starts with distinct stories about 2 friends just graduating from the police academy, corrupt police officers, wealthy college students and a police elite squad named BOPE (Batalhao de OPeracoes Especiais, Special Operations Battalion). They all relate to each other lightly, but their strong bond is the crime in the city of Rio de Janeiro.The story is narrated by Captain Nascimento, an honest and incorruptible commander of a BOPE battalion. Under his point of view (but enough elements are presented, so viewers aren't restricted to Nascimento's point o view), he describes how the poor, the rich and the corrupt keep spinning the wheel of crime and how endemic it is in Rio de Janeiro.The plot is very well structured and filled with nice subplots (BOPE military training, Pope's visit to Rio, action scenes, drama scenes, twists...), this is a very nice way to see Brazilian's society... not because it's complicated, but because sometimes it's just this simple.The actors in this movie are very good too, it's worth mentioning how Wagner Moura is outstanding as Capt. Nascimento.And the action scenes are very nice too, seems very real.Probably one of my favorite movies.