| | |  | BRAZIL | Home » » Elite Squad | | | | | | | Description: | | An action-packed thriller that follows an elite police battalion (BOPE) tasked with cleaning up a drug-ridden Rio de Janeiro slum in advance of the pope's 1997 visit. A team of trained killers, they struggle to do what's right in a corrupt system and dangerous neighborhood. | | | Features: | |
• An action-packed thriller that follows an elite police battalion (BOPE) tasked with cleaning up a drug-ridden Rio de Janeiro slum in advance of the pope's 1997 visit. A team of trained killers, they struggle to do what's right in a corrupt system and dangerous neighborhood. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 796019815482 UPC: 79601981
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz, Fernanda Machado | | Director:
| José Padilha | | Format:
| Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| Portuguese | | Subtitle:
| English, Spanish | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Weinstein Company | | Run Time:
| 115 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| October 28, 2008 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 47 reviews |
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| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 47 customer reviews )
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46 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 Panned by critics, loved by those who understand the situation in BrazilNov 14, 2008
By Don Federico
"Don Federico"
I loved this movie. It was largely panned by American critics, never even making it to American theaters, except for maybe one or two in NYC (none in LA).
The film provided a valid, complex viewpoint of some of the problems that modern-day Brazil faces. If you look at comments of reviews of this film on major publications' web sites (like NYTimes, LA Times, etc), you will see that the overwhelming majority of comments are from Brazilians who: 1) loved the movie, and 2) stated that the movie got the situation right.
The film shows the point of view of patriotic police officers that want to do right by their country, although they are confounded by their fellow police officers, the well-armed drug dealers, the bought-off constituents of the slums (favelas), as well as the leftist middle class that excoriates the police on the one hand for its heavy handed tactics as well as its corruption while at the same time sustaining the local drug lords by buying their product.
It is the film's viewpoint towards the leftist middle class that I think doomed the film to never get a proper showing in the US. That, and the fact that this "honest" police force feels obligated (and in the eyes of some in the viewing public, justified) to use extra-judicial, heavy handed tactics to get results in fighting crime.
SEE THIS FILM!
46 of 49 found the following review helpful:
Riveting Movie, I Highly Recommend ItOct 19, 2008
By Colin P. Lindsey
Wow, what a great movie! Let me first say that I am extremely picky about movies and have found myself watching fewer and fewer as time goes by, mostly because most movies now seem to be boring and pointless. So when I do, on a rare occassion, enjoy a movie, for me it is unusual. I didn't just enjoy this movie though, I loved it. In fact, I did that rarest of things I watched it twice!
This movie focuses on the efforts of an elite Brazilian police unit in Rio and their efforts to reduce drug-related crimes. It is violent, compelling, entertaining and a first-class movie experience. Why? Because this movie avoids all the stereotypes of other cops versus drug-dealer movies, especially the simplified good guys vs. bad guys Hollywood take. It is also surprising and rewarding to see the drug war through the eyes of Brazilian culture as opposed to an American view.
The movie focuses on two young policemen, their experiences in the corrupt local police force, and their progression into joining the ranks of BOPE, the "Elite Squad" of the movie title. It is narrated by Captain Nascimento, the leader of a BOPE squad who is desperately trying to find a replacement for himself because after ten years in BOPE the stress and tension is causing him severe physical reactions, and he longs to spend time with his wife and newly born son.
This movie is AWESOME for two reasons I believe. One is that the voice of Nascimento is compelling and beautifully haunting; just listening to him speak in Portuguese as the movie plays will send shivers and chills through your body. Do not ever, ever, get a dubbed version of this movie, it would destroy the magic here. The second reason is that the movie is so highly realistic. All the characters are complex, three-dimensional, believable human beings, and their actions, reactions, and motivations are all perfectly in sync with their characters. There are no wrong, silly, or false notes played in this movie, it all rings true. The drug-dealers (trafficants) and believable, the corrupt police force is ultra-believable because the movie shows why they are corrupt, and the BOPE officers, shown through Nascimento, are completely believable as they struggle against both their corrupt peers and the desperate trafficants. This is no silly, Hollywood shoot 'em up, this is the real deal and it is my favorite movie this year. It's going into my top ten movies ever list.
40 of 45 found the following review helpful:
The movie is about social issues and not just violence.Oct 31, 2008
By I. Wan
The movie is quite violent, so it will appeal to action movie fans, but more than that, it is a social movie.
I was born and raised in Rio, close to one of the many favelas in that city.
Years ago, I attended the same university one of the characters in the movie did. The students there are accurately depicted. They are upper middle class students that preach peace and social services, but while doing that, they also smoke pot. When I didn't see any problems at the time, but now, I can see the hypocrisy of preaching peace, but also financing the violence by smoking pot.
I also have a really good high school friend that's a Capitain now in the PM (Military Policy). He's not part of that Elite Squad, but he's an honest cop. So while severly underpaid, there ARE honest cops out there.
Not really a movie review, but a rant, but this movie was quite realistic and nostalgic for me.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Of Fascists and PatriotsMar 17, 2009
By Cl Veysey
Tropa de Elite ('Elite Troop') is a film portraying the retirement of one soldier (most police in Brazil are military and are better described as 'soldiers' than 'police officers') and the recruitment of two more into the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais - 'Police Special Operations Battalion'), an elite, semi-autonomous branch of the Policia Militar of Rio de Janeiro. Several American critics, on reviewing the film, were horrified to find that it seemed, in the words of Variety magazine, to be a 'recruitment video for fascism.' And they're right. That's exactly what the film seems to be, and that is precisely the intention of the director. Now, it would be a great mistake to believe that the film actually is such a recruitment video: the director, José Padilha,
is about as predisposed to produce fascist recruitment material as Ghandi would be . However, the director is definitely inviting us to see Brazil's favelas not from the typical viewpoint of middle-class sociologists and journalists, but from the viewpoint of the BOPE, a police battalion which is a disturbing mix of elite military strike force (like the SAS or the Navy Seals), secret police force (like the Gestapo or KGB) and religious cult, worshipping fanatically the ideal of the patriotic, incorruptible police soldier.
I noticed that one reviewer of Tropa de Elite, evidently expecting a Hollywood-style action film, was disappointed that the BOPE did not appear to have any of the high-tech equipment one would associate with elite military forces. That reviewer can rest assured that the real BOPE do in fact use such equipment, and a member of the BOPE on operations looks much like a member of any elite force: military helmet, body armor, nightvision goggles and the like. Added to the balaclavas that real BOPE soldiers wear to obscure their identities, the real-life BOPE gear presents a fearsome appearance reminiscent of some killing machine out of science fiction. In the fictional presentation of BOPE in the film, however, the BOPE soldiers are stripped of their gear and put into more normal police-style uniforms, allowing us to see the men beneath the gear. And this is really what the film is about. We see the human faces behind the elite death squads and are forced to confront the fact that these are real, moral beings, with loves, desires and concerns just like ours. We see them as nervous fathers, young men with crushes, loyal friends, and men with dreams of a better life, not just as psychotic terminators that we can summarily dismiss from our moral radar.
And as we are drawn into the viewpoint of these men, we come to the real thrust of the film: we come face-to-face with the fact that their viewpoint is not born of the delusions of half-crazed psychotic fascists, but rather of the frustrations of men who believe passionately in saving their country but who are prevented from doing so through any of the more legitimate channels, all of which have become so corrupt as to be little more than a joke. I don't think that we are being invited to agree with the viewpoint of the BOPE soldiers, but we are being invited to move away from the superficial moralizing of the middle-class students portrayed in the film, and instead confront the harsh reality of the Brazilian favelas, a reality that is not amenable to easy answers or quick fixes.
If you're up for great acting, a solid script and character-driven drama that addresses social issues in a way that really makes you think, then Tropa de Elite might be exactly what you're looking for. If, however, you're looking for something that will provide a clear-cut, black and white account of violence in Brazil, without challenging your moral viewpoint, then give this one a miss.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
An Ode to Police Heroism, or to Paramilitary Fascism?...Nov 03, 2008
By Zen Nataraj
Elite Squad is one of the best movies ever about the dark side of urban life. Not just a movie about Rio, it addresses the brute reality of police institutions in any big city: that cops have to do the dirty job that society won't do (but needs someone to). As importantly, it reveals how one of the roots of urban violence lies in the hypocrisy of middle/upper classes as the main clients of drug trafficking.
Some say it is an ode to police heroism, while others complain that it romanticizes paramilitary fascism. As a secondary issue, it is no more violent than Robocop or Rambo, just more realistic, so I don't understand why all the fuss by media (such as NYT critic) and mainstream viewers...
I won't be surprised if Elite Squad wins an Oscar or similar awards. Don't miss this out!
See all 47 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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