Elite Squad (TNL movie club)

**OGcritic** · 10 Aug 2009, 04:51 PM

Elite Squad is a film about the specialty brigade (BOPE) of the Rio De Janeiro military police.
Click for full size

The film is based on a semi-fictional book of the same name that was written by two ex-BOPE members, and tells the tale of corruption, violence within the police, and the slums of Rio. The film is based around the BOPE trying to clean up a particular slum run by drug lords for the 1997 visit from Pope John Paul II. The film focuses on the rise of two members of the military police as they are being recruited by the BOPE, and the lieutenant that is to choose one of them as his replacement.

It won the Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin film festival, and the script was written by the same guy that wrote City of God.

It's an excellent, dark, gritty, action packed, and suspenseful film.

I don't have netflix anymore, but when I did, it was available for instant watching.

Trailer:

**Rumpy** · 10 Aug 2009, 05:30 PM

Looks awesome. It's not on Instant, but here is the link to the DVD.

**D_N_G** · 24 Aug 2009, 05:50 PM

This was a really good flick! Thanks for the pick, I was glad to add this to my DVD collection!

It was awesome seeing more cinema focusing on fictional characters in real world politics. Corruption in South America depicted as a way of life makes stellar filmmaking.

One word to describe BOPE is "hardcore". Seriously those dudes don't fuck around. Nice to see that the best man got the job as replacement, even though "best" isnt exactly what you might think. Loved the inticrate relationships and how they all teetered on the edge with crime holding them together.

City of God, Amores Perros, Secuestro Express and now Elite Squad are my four faves in this sub genre from down south.

Only thing that bugged me was that the DVD cover tried to make it seem like a film that it isnt. Really prefer that poster in the original post as the cover art. Che-esque

Oh and fuck the rich hippy kids with apartments, and eat that food number 6

**Rumpy** · 26 Aug 2009, 04:50 PM

I'm gonna watch this soon, I'm working through Dexter S3 right now.

**OGcritic** · 26 Aug 2009, 07:31 PM

Yeah, I'm glad you liked it DNG. I wouldn't rank it as high as Cit of God, but I really enjoyed it. Another great film from brazil, if you haven't seen it is my last movie pick "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation."

**Rumpy** · 07 Sep 2009, 12:43 PM

Really cool, I liked it a lot. Really dirty and brutal, well acted movie. Some really good characters and the pacing was just right. Bleak story in such a beautiful country. It's alarming to see the tourist/rich side of a country only to see how shitty things really are. People suck.

**Despair** · 07 Sep 2009, 02:16 PM

Not as good as City of God, but good movie nevertheless

**A Robot Bit Me** · 19 Sep 2009, 07:36 PM

This is one of the only cop movies I've seen that tackles the What Is Going Too Far theme with any guile or respect for its audience. The scene where Matias storms into school, confronts the protesters and Maria, and noses out the dealer is truly great. This was pretty fucking rad, OGcritic.

I still, uh, haven't seen CoG.