Film Review

09 January 2009 12:24 BST

Elite Squad

Directed by Jose Padilha, out August 8th in cinemas, starring Wagner Moura, Caio Junqueira, Andre Ramiro, Milhem Cortaz, running time 115 mins.

In a nutshell...

Corrupt cops versus unruly drug lords

What's it all about?

It's 1997 and Pope John Paul II is set to visit Rio. The whole city is waiting to embrace him. The problem is, he wants to stay overlooking one the city's worst favelas, where crime is prevalent and the drugs lords rule the roost. The city's normal police force are just as corrupt as the influential criminals and they can't be trusted to keep the peace.

So the Special Police Operation Battalion (BOPE) are sent for to make sure the church leader's trip passes without incident. Captain Nascimento, once an idealistic police officer hungry to wipe out the drug dealers and the corrupt cops, is desperate to leave the elite squad but first he must protect the pope and find a replacement.



Who's in it?

Wagner Moura stars as the film's lead and narrator, Captain Nascimento. Moura has appeared in a number of other Brazilian films and TV shows, none of which have gained much recognition outside of the South America country. The rest of the cast is similarly made up of Brazilian actors.

Director Jose Padilha worked on two other projects before Elite Squad, Onibus 174 and Brazil's Vanishing Cowboys. The hugely influential Weinstein brothers are also executive producers on the film.

As an example...

Captain Nascimento berating a potential BOPE recruit, known only as 02:

"You'll never make it through this course, you know why? It's not because you are f***ing weak and have no fibre. It's because you're a crooked cop, 02, and to wear this badge you gotta have character. You don't belong here, 02, you belong with the hookers and the pimps, 02. You belong with the abortion clinics. Crooked cops don't join BOPE, 02."

Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars

It would have a very good chance in the foreign film category anyway, but with the weight of the Weinsteins behind it, it's almost a shoo-in.

What the others say

"Despite the voiceover, Padilha has created a shocking insight into a world in which corrupt cops slug it out against drug dealers but, ultimately, nobody wins." – Empire

"Impressively made, but leaves a nasty taste in the mouth." – Timeout

So is it any good?

There are parts of this film which are sensational. Everyone who sees "Brazilian film about drug dealers set in Rio's favelas" will automatically shout back City of God and perhaps be a little uninterested in committing to Elite Squad. That would be a mistake. While City of God showed the harsh side of Rio's slums, there was a positive message about making it out of the desperation, of escape to a better life. There is no such message here. In Elite Squad everyone is corrupt, everyone is stealing off each other, everyone is bribing everyone else, while continually trying to stab the other in the back. Padilha's message is that the police are just as bad as the crooks in Rio. The boys in blue may even be worse, for they were entrusted with the power to protect and maintain order, while some of those stuck in the favelas are born into a life of crime from which they know no other existence and from which they will never escape.

The BOPE then are the macho, idealistic heroes. The cops that actually give a s**t. They're not corrupt, they believe in honour and up holding the law. But even they are prone to failure in the face of such ingrained lawlessness.

Moura's portrayal of Captain Nascimento, a BOPE officer once full of hope and bravado now disillusioned with the unscalable task of fighting crime, is fantastic. His quest to find a replacement works well as the story's underlining chronology but the film gets slightly lost at times and feels a little disjointed. We skip from fighting the drug dealers in the favelas, to fresh–faced rookies learning how the police force really operates, to Full Metal Jacket-style boot camps.

The latter is entertaining enough and fits in with the films' loud/in-your-face style but its length and placement do not sit quite right and highlights the film's problem of not truly knowing what it wants to show. Is it an gung-ho action film about elite police officers who are out to save Rio? Or is it a moral tale of how the situation has become so bad in the city's favelas that both sides are as bad as each other and survival is the only shared instinct?

It is along these lines that that some may have a problem with the ending. You will be left either contemplating the moral standing of the film's message or totally embrace the cold-hearted suddenness of it all.

Despite this, though, the film is a triumph. A bleak portrayal of a troubled city with characters full of depth and plot shifts that you follow with intrigue. Yes we've all seen City of God and yes, we all loved it. Go watch Elite Squad, you'll love it too but for much deeper reasons.

8/10

Richard James

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