Film: Elite Squad
Release date: 26th January 2009
Certificate: 18
Running time: 115 mins
Director: José Padilha
Starring: Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz, Fernanda Machado
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: Brazil/Netherlands/USA/Argentina
Only recently have the cinema population set their sights on Brazil, as they hit their stride in producing award-winning cinema. From the writer that brought you the extraordinary City Of God comes another tale that takes place in the heart of the favelas. A film that, despite being leaked to the online community, where a staggering 11.5 million people claimed to have seen the film prior to its nationwide release, has still managed to become a cultural phenomenon, breaking office records and winning numerous awards in the process.
While City Of God depicted life in a Brazilian slum through the eyes of the very people that lived there, Elite Squad does the reverse, and we are treated to the exploits of Brazilian law enforcement in its purest form. Calculated and brutal.
Elite Squad makes good use of a similar narrative style from that which was used in City Of God. A story told retrospectively through the eyes of Captain Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura), a high ranking officer in the B.O.P.E, Brazil’s Special Police Operations Battalion (their equivalent to S.W.A.T.).
Set in 1997, prior to the Pope’s visit to Rio de Janerio, Nascimento is forced to undertake the arduous task of eradicating the high threat of crime and level of drug trafficking within the surrounding favelas of the Pope’s residence.
Understandably reluctant to commit to nightly raids in a community where the establishment of law is an unwelcome presence, Nascimento is burdened with balancing the stress of upholding his personal belief in the policing system against his own safety, and the welfare of his growing family.
He eventually crosses paths with Neto Gouveia (Caio Junqueira) and André Matias (André Ramiro) during a rescue mission. Two promising, young officers serving in the military police where they had hoped to aid their country with honesty and integrity. What they found was a system full of corruption, and bureaucracy which smothers all attempts from them to work for the greater good. From this frustration, they eventually turn to the B.O.P.E. The only regiment they feel is untainted by the dishonesty of the system, and where the task at hand will be completed through means free from the shackles of paperwork and brown nosing.
The three men’s lives are intertwined as Nascimento takes his opportunity to step down and find the man who will act as his replacement. However, he will only abdicate his position if he feels that the right man will carry the ideals of the B.O.P.E and lead the squad as he did...
Principal writer Bráulio Mantovani has created a tale which revolves around the theme of ideals. Because the story is told through the eyes of the law, we can assume that the protagonist Nascimento will be a good person with unequivocal loyalty to the police force. However, Bráulio Mantovani clearly has chosen to avoid this cliché by setting the B.O.P.E apart from the rest of the police force.
Nascimento has a forthright opinion towards the general police of Rio and visibly looks down on them due to their unconcealed collusions with the drug lords, and the bureaucracy which makes them an ineffective system. Throughout the movie, we see instances of how Nascimento and his squad actually work – and that’s in a brutal manner.
Depending on how you choose to perceive things, you are either watching a devastatingly realistic portrayal of how the B.O.P.E work in the face of adversity, or you are watching police brutality at its worst, grossly misusing their powers to get the job done.
Whichever way you choose to look at it, director José Padilha has intelligently chosen to forgo any sugarcoating of how the B.O.P.E carry themselves, and has taken eye witness testimony to inject a sense of realism into his story. The interrogation scenes can be extremely uncomfortable to watch, and we must ask the question if it is even necessary, or more importantly, is it even acceptable.
Nonetheless, the actors and actresses that portray both victim and B.O.P.E are excellent in their individual roles, and over the course of the movie, you begin to feel that with the frustration and cowardice of the policing system, the B.O.P.E’s vicious nature is a welcome and important addition to the lawless favelas.
Wagner Moura, who plays Nascimento, perfectly embodies the character to the very bone. A hard as nails character whose ideals are confounded between the B.O.P.E and his position as a family man. Moura lets it all out with a performance that depicts a man who is a ticking time bomb until he finds his saving grace. With a very clever script conjoined with his performance, we instantly understand the kind of struggle that this man faces, and how it would affect even the toughest of men.
With the characters of Matias and Neto, we get a closer look at two polar opposites of mentalities. Neto is a brash but honest policeman, and with him we see the inner workings of incompetence within the policing system. Matias is intelligent and studies law in university with the intention of fighting crime from behind a desk; however, he begins to also feel frustrated with the negative perception about the authorities from the upper class students that surround him. Students that he feels should have no opinion on the police, since they live far away from the issues but are still his friends. Matias’s ideals are conflicted between his responsibilities as a police officer and his life as a student. We get a complete grouping of attitudes with these three separate characters, ensuring we appreciate the hardship the B.O.P.E face in all walks of life.
The opening scene flawlessly captures the ambience of what we find familiar with South America. An unabashed favela party in full swing, accompanied by upbeat Portuguese music, which house lyrics that fully explain the hostility toward the police. Thanks to the director José Padilha, we instantaneously get a feel for the atmosphere and background between the people who live in the favelas and the police. The resentment is always apparent, and we are immediately thrust into the concept of impending conflict. With an unease that resounds throughout the entire film.
Elite Squad also shares similar cinematography and editing to City Of God with a lot of hand-held shakes and rocky movement, all of which perfectly accompany the action, unrest and drama.
With a highly intelligent script that, according to eye witness accounts, closely mirrors real life; Elite Squad is a controversial and believable masterpiece that does not disappoint from its inception to the ambiguous and suitably abrupt ending. This is a must see film that will indisputably split opinions on the many contentious subjects raised in this movie. Is this glamorization or documentation? Regardless of whether you see the B.O.P.E as heroes (as many of Brazil now does) or representation of a fascist regime, this film will force you to watch with awe what happens when you push men with strong ideologies and those who live without fear. VLN
No comments:
Post a Comment