Elite Squad

Got to hand it to them, this film rocks

City of God and its recent offspring, City of Men, are two highlights in modern crime cinema. They burst with the energy and excitement of the classics from 70s Hollywood.

Both films have rightly been lauded but they do only present one side of the story. Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite) focuses on the crime-fighters, and in doing so could be the best film of the lot.

Where the police fear to tread, the brutal and uncompromising BOPE (Elite Squad) are sent in.

They are led in the field by Captain Nascimento (Moura), and an already dangerous job is compromised further by the impending arrival of the Pope.

While clearing the slums in preparation for the papal visit, the Captain suffers a series of panic attacks. Realising he needs to find a replacement, he looks to two rookies to the police force to sign up to the BOPE.

The rookies are friends and have been making a mark trying to fight the corruption and dirty dealings of many of their seniors. Neto shoots from the hip, and although a fine officer he is still raw. Thankfully his more studios friend Matias is often on hand to help out, but does he lack the killer instinct needed for the job?

The film unfolds in great fashion, and we get to see many of the supporting characters as well as the three leads change and develop over the course of the film.

The depiction of the corruption is wonderfully done, and made utterly believable.

It’s not the sort of OTT 'conspiracy' nonsense Hollywood seems to favour, more a low level reality of cops selling car parts from squad vehicles to make a quick profit.

Neto and Matias make for excellent protagonists with ones exuberance matched by the others naivety.

The cops aren’t all bad, just like the criminals they have their own reasons for doing what they do.

Of particular interest is a disgraced captain called Fabio who later attempts to join the BOPE to try and gain some redemption for his previous misdeeds, and it is he misfortunes that lead to a superb hillside shootout which is pivotal to the film.

Elite Squad really is best seen as part of an unofficial trilogy with City of God and City of Men, but even in it’s own rights this is gripping stuff.

4/5

You know what; those light-deprived top dogs over at www.screenjabber.com provided us with this review.

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