Elite Squad (Jose Padilha, 2007): Brazil

Reviewed by Byron Potau.

Jose Padilha’s violent new film, Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite), is a harsh indictment of the city of Rio de Janeiro, and like the recent City of God, brings some of the harsh realities of this city and its condition to the forefront.
This film focuses its first half on the police corruption that has resulted from the drug dealers’ stranglehold on the city.  Police enter the slums only to get their cut from drug dealers who carry bigger and better guns than the police do.  Police commanders order their captains do drag dead bodies into other districts to lower the death toll in their own district only to have other commanders drag them back.  Corruption is everywhere from the bottom to the top.  However, the police are not solely to blame as the young rich potheads smoking and selling are unwittingly funding the drug dealers and make their power possible.
Two best friends, Andre (Andre Ramiro) and Neto (Ciao Junqueira), are rookie police who see these two sides of the equation and eventually decide to rise above it by becoming a part of the special police division, BOPE.  They are a specially trained division of the police that even the drug dealers fear.  The film is narrated by Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura) who is trying to find his replacement among the new trainees as he has just become a father and the pressure is starting to get to him.
The conditions of the city and state of its police force are unquestionably appalling, and easily provoke disgust.  This is not a film that lets you ignore the social conditions.  While the film is well executed throughout, it rises to a new level in the BOPE training scenes where the captains train the recruits, using all manner of method to get them to quit.  Only the strongest will pass their test and the weak and corrupt will not make it.  These scenes are harsh and extreme, but never seem exploitative or over the top.  The acting from top to bottom is excellent with no one cast member outshining another, helping to keep the flow and realism of the film consistent.
The film has one failing and that is an overuse of handheld camera which achieves its purpose in creating a chaotic environment, but at times was a bit nauseating to the viewer.  Other than this, the film moves at a brisk pace, and has an intensity and realism that make it a stay with the viewer long after the credits.