Elite Squad

Having seen "Cidade de Deus" and thoroughly enjoyed it (though it is a grim tale), I was at first having high hopes for "Tropa de Elite". Then I thought that it could never reach the same high standards, and my hopes were lowered a great deal.

About 3 months ago I happened to see about 15 minutes of the movie, and that lowered my hopes even more. How wrong I was to judge such a great movie on what must have been an unfortunate 15 minutes.

I won't go into detail about the story, but it is both believable and compelling. Like "Cidade..." this is no fairy tale. It's the world as it is. No more, no less. Of course, there might not be that many guns blazing in reality, but I'd reckon this isn't very far off.

We feel the pain, the lack of morale and the despair and hopelessness. Photography is spot on, the acting is both fantastic and realistic. "Tropa de Elite" never went into the big theaters here in Denmark which is rather unfortunate, since it's a true gem. Instead we get loads of mainstream crap. Not to sound arrogant, I watch loads of mainstream movies too (voluntarily, even), but it's movies like this that made me love movies as fondly as I do.

Do yourself a favour. Get this on DVD. See it. Feel the pain. Immerge yourself in the desperate world. Then, after it's all over, enjoy your life, a life that will seem much, much brighter after this.

ELITE SQUAD is another top-notch Brazilian thriller following in the footsteps of CITY OF GOD (the two films share a writer, I believe). Although the storyline is completely different, the two films share plenty of stylistic similarities: the gritty, on-the-streets style filming, the realism, the multi-layered storytelling, the realistic and sympathetic characters, the hectic pace.

Needless to say that this is an excellent film that offers a thorough exploration of policing in Brazil and all of the violence and corruption that comes with it. ELITE SQUAD does tackle the menace of drug gangs and the like but that's not the sole focus here; instead we learn of the everyday corruption present in all aspects of the police force. The dialogue crackles with electricity and the performances are exemplary, particularly from Andre Ramiro, who plays my favourite character, a naive law student drawn into a dark and murky world.

Fizzing with energy and loaded with brutal violence, ELITE SQUAD is as good as it gets for a contemporary thriller and it's also one of those films that educates as well as entertains. Be warned, it pulls no punches. A sequel, ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN follows, and inevitably I have to track it down.

This is a complex film not in plot, but in the weave of the characters and how morality is completely blurred. I have watched over 100 films this year and this is in the top three I've stumbled across.

The acting, cinematography, plot, characters and the way this unfolds, will be loved by any fans of the City of God. This is like a way way more realistic portrayal of why all this dreadful stuff keeps going on, seen from several sides of the conflict.

The three main characters - Captain Niscamento of the Elite squad - paranoid, troubled, stressed but somehow holding it together. Andre Matias, would-be lawyer and member of the squad - who discovers that being a cop will cut him off from living normally. And Neto - hard man, yes sir, no sir tough lead in the squad, spilling lots of claret around the slums.

The sets are amazing - there is a scene in the slums where abandoned houses cover the landscape and are used for a gun battle. The shells of the properties erupt like rotten teeth from the rubble and i've never seen anything like it. There are plenty more examples.

This film is so well made it will appeal to many genre lovers. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Tropa de Elite is an amazingly good film; by turns brutally real and horrifyingly hilarious.

It claims to be based on a true story and I find that sadly believable. The main plot revolves around the captain of an elite police unit trying to find a replacement for himself, while dealing with the birth of his child and the horrendous stress of his job, and a mission to clear out a dangerously violent slum.

There are no wholly good people in the movie, and it's frighteningly easy to compare some of what goes on to things happening in the USA (and other places) today. That said, the system of government and policing portrayed comes across as so amazingly inept and awful that it's almost like something straight out of a nightmarish sci-fi dystopia.

If I had to compare it to other movies, it comes off as a cross between Brazil, Office Space, and Full Metal Jacket. Not for the weak of stomach, and you may find yourself greatly disagreeing with the ideals of various groups portrayed (which I believe is part of the point), but I would be enormously surprised if this movie doesn't make you think and give you something to talk about.

My first brazilian film. Intense, hectic, critical and lots of strong violent actions. first act: ok, second act: good, third act: Grandioso! 👍