Tropa de Elite
Encyclopedia
The Elite Squad is a 2007 Brazilian film directed by José Padilha
. The film is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE
, the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro
Military Police. It is the second feature film and first fiction film of Padilha, who had previously directed the documentary Bus 174
. The script was written by Bráulio Mantovani
, based on the book Elite da Tropa
by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares
and two former BOPE captains, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel
.
The Elite Squad was an outstanding commercial success, and became a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its sequel, The Elite Squad 2
, released in Brazil on October 8, 2010, holds industry records in the country for ticket sales and grossed revenue.
, The Elite Squad follows the lives and exploits of a BOPE
captain named Nascimento and his two potential heirs-in-command, Neto Gouveia and André Matias, rising from the ranks of general PMERJ (the state military police) to BOPE (later it is revealed that Nascimento wants to leave the force because his wife is pregnant with his first child).
While Neto Gouveia is a quick-tempered, tougher man, André Matias refuses to compromise his ideals of peace and equality. The latter is also a student of Law
at a university in Rio, where his upper class friends are unaware of his job as a policeman, and are clearly shown as "spoiled" kids that tend to see the police as a repressive unit.
Preceding the visit of Pope John Paul II to Rio, the plot unfolds and we are introduced to the day-to-day drug busting operations inside Rio's favelas, ruled by well-armed and powerful drug lords, led by the Brazilian elite unit, BOPE
, and the corruption that affects part of the PMERJ.
.
residents knew about the movie. The word of mouth
was also important for the disclosure of the film, with 80% of the people rating the movie as "excellent" or "good", according to the same poll.
The movie was released in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo on October 5, 2007 (with the intention of being considered by the Ministry of Culture
to compete as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film
Oscar). It was released nationwide on October 12, 2007. Up to now 2.5 million people have seen it at the theaters even though most people had already seen it via pirated DVDs. In Rio and São Paulo, with no promotion other than billboards, 180,000 people saw the movie during its opening weekend.
The movie was also the cover issue for three of Brazil's most important weekly magazines, Veja
, Carta Capital and Época
. On the beginning of 2008 it was confirmed that Rede Globo
will produce a TV series based on the movie.
Outside Brazil, however, reviews of the film were more mixed. Based on 34 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
, The Elite Squad received an average 53% overall approval rating. Critical consensus was that the film was a "brutal, action heavy, Brazilian cop film with a pointless voiceover. Lacks flair, overdoes the violence and is never quite sure where its morals lie".
in slum
s; some saw it as glamourizing
police violence. After its exhibition in Berlin Film Festival
, critic Jay Weissberg, in a Variety
article, called the movie "a one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist
thugs". Michel Misse, a researcher of urban violence in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in an article by Carta Capital, tried to explain why some people cheered at Captain Nascimento's actions: "as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for punishment, some may think civil rights
leads to unpunishment. And then, they want illegal solutions. That's why Captain Nascimento is called".
, the Golden Bear.
" from the film, because of alleged promotion of violence like use of illegal arms and drugs. The filmmakers complied after two weeks of the official release.
. It is scheduled to be released on the U.S. on November 11, 2011.
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (US) - Official Website
José Padilha
José Padilha is an award-winning Brazilian film director and producer.Padilha emerged onto the Brazilian movie scene with his first feature film Bus 174. In 2007, Padilha directed The Elite Squad , his first fictional film. The film was a commercial and critical success, seen by more than 11...
. The film is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE
BOPE
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais , mostly known by its acronym BOPE, is a special forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil....
, the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
Military Police. It is the second feature film and first fiction film of Padilha, who had previously directed the documentary Bus 174
Bus 174
Bus 174 is a Brazilian documentary film released on October 22, 2002. It is the debut film of director José Padilha and co-director Felipe Lacerda. Sandro do Nascimento, a young man from a poor background, bungled a robbery and ended up holding the passengers on a bus hostage for four hours. The...
. The script was written by Bráulio Mantovani
Bráulio Mantovani
Bráulio Mantovani is a Brazilian screenwriter.Graduated in Portuguese Language and Literature by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, he began his career writing professionally for theatre groups in 1987...
, based on the book Elite da Tropa
Elite da Tropa
Elite da Tropa is a Brazilian book written by the ex-police officers André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel together with Luiz Eduardo Soares. It was first published on 2006.The film Tropa de Elite was based on this book.-Synopsis:...
by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares
Luiz Eduardo Soares
Luiz Eduardo Soares , is a Brazilian anthropologist, philosopher and political scientist.-Activities:...
and two former BOPE captains, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel
Rodrigo Pimentel
Rodrigo Pimentel is a former member of BOPE, the elite group of the Brazilian Military Police. He co-wrote both films of director José Padilha, The Elite Squad and Bus 174 ...
.
The Elite Squad was an outstanding commercial success, and became a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its sequel, The Elite Squad 2
The Elite Squad 2
Elite Squad 2 is a 2010 Brazilian film directed and produced by José Padilha, starring Wagner Moura. It is a sequel of the 2007 film The Elite Squad...
, released in Brazil on October 8, 2010, holds industry records in the country for ticket sales and grossed revenue.
Plot
Set in 1997, in Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, The Elite Squad follows the lives and exploits of a BOPE
BOPE
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais , mostly known by its acronym BOPE, is a special forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil....
captain named Nascimento and his two potential heirs-in-command, Neto Gouveia and André Matias, rising from the ranks of general PMERJ (the state military police) to BOPE (later it is revealed that Nascimento wants to leave the force because his wife is pregnant with his first child).
While Neto Gouveia is a quick-tempered, tougher man, André Matias refuses to compromise his ideals of peace and equality. The latter is also a student of Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at a university in Rio, where his upper class friends are unaware of his job as a policeman, and are clearly shown as "spoiled" kids that tend to see the police as a repressive unit.
Preceding the visit of Pope John Paul II to Rio, the plot unfolds and we are introduced to the day-to-day drug busting operations inside Rio's favelas, ruled by well-armed and powerful drug lords, led by the Brazilian elite unit, BOPE
BOPE
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais , mostly known by its acronym BOPE, is a special forces unit of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil....
, and the corruption that affects part of the PMERJ.
Cast
- Wagner MouraWagner MouraWagner Maniçoba Moura is a Brazilian film, television and stage actor. Moura graduated in journalism at Universidade Federal da Bahia but decided to become an actor....
as Captain Roberto Nascimento - Caio Junqueira as Neto Gouveia
- André Ramiro as André Matias
- Maria RibeiroMaria RibeiroMaria do Amaral Ribeiro is a Brazilian actress.- Biography :He worked in soap operas such as A Escrava Isaura, playing the beautiful Malvina, and also Luz do Sol, playing Zoé. He also made the film the young Anamaria Tolerância, directed by Carlos Gerbase gaucho.He had a son with ex-husband Paulo...
as Rosane - Fernanda MachadoFernanda MachadoFernanda Arrias Machado is a Brazilian film, television and stage actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Maria in the film Tropa de Elite.-Career:...
as Maria - Fernanda de Freitas as Roberta Alunde
- Paulo Vilela as Edu
- Milhem CortazMilhem CortazMilhem Cortaz is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and television.Cortaz' first role came on the 2000 film Mater Dei, written by Diogo Mainardi, where he portrayed a security guard. On 2002, he premiered on the television with a minor character on Rede Globo's unsuccessful telenovela Desejos de...
as Capitão Fábio - Marcelo Valle as Capitão Oliveira
- Fábio Lago as Baiano
- Alex Avellar, as 02
- Ricardo Pagotto Piai, as 08
- Guilherme Aguilar, as 07
- Pedro Bonfim, as PM Robson
- Sandro Rocha as Sargent Rocha
Inspiration
The movie is based on Elite da Tropa, a book by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two BOPE policemen, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel, which provided a semi-fictional account of the daily routine of the BOPE as well as some historical events, based on the experiences of the latter two. The book was controversial at the time of release, and reportedly resulted in Batista being reprimanded and censured by the Military Police. The book was controversial in its description of the BOPE as a "killing machine", as well as detailing an alleged aborted assassination attempt on then left-wing governor Leonel BrizolaLeonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
.
Production leak
In August 2007, prior to the movie's release to theaters, a preliminary cut of the film was leaked and made available for download on the Internet. The cut, which included English title cards but no subtitles, was leaked from the company responsible for subtitling the film, resulting in one person being fired and a criminal investigation. It was estimated that about 11.5 million people had seen the leaked version of the movie in 2007.Popularity and box office
Tropa de Elite became one of the most popular Brazilian movies in history. According to Datafolha, 77% of São PauloSão Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
residents knew about the movie. The word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
was also important for the disclosure of the film, with 80% of the people rating the movie as "excellent" or "good", according to the same poll.
The movie was released in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo on October 5, 2007 (with the intention of being considered by the Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Culture (Brazil)
The Ministry of Culture of Brazil was created in 1985.-External links:*...
to compete as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
Oscar). It was released nationwide on October 12, 2007. Up to now 2.5 million people have seen it at the theaters even though most people had already seen it via pirated DVDs. In Rio and São Paulo, with no promotion other than billboards, 180,000 people saw the movie during its opening weekend.
The movie was also the cover issue for three of Brazil's most important weekly magazines, Veja
Veja (magazine)
Veja is a Brazilian weekly newsmagazine published in São Paulo and distributed throughout the country by the media conglomerate Grupo Abril. It is the leading weekly publication in the country, and one of the most influential outlets of the Brazilian press...
, Carta Capital and Época
Época
Época is a Brazilian weekly news and analysis magazine. Since its inception in 1998, it has become one of the country's most widely read magazines...
. On the beginning of 2008 it was confirmed that Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
will produce a TV series based on the movie.
Outside Brazil, however, reviews of the film were more mixed. Based on 34 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, The Elite Squad received an average 53% overall approval rating. Critical consensus was that the film was a "brutal, action heavy, Brazilian cop film with a pointless voiceover. Lacks flair, overdoes the violence and is never quite sure where its morals lie".
Criticism
When the first version of the film leaked, it caused a major controversy for its portrayal of Captain Nascimento's unpunished police brutalityPolice brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
in slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s; some saw it as glamourizing
Aestheticization of violence
The aestheticization of violence in high culture art or mass media is the depiction of or references to violence in what Indiana University film studies professor Margaret Bruder calls a "stylistically excessive," "significant and sustained way." When violence is depicted in this fashion in films,...
police violence. After its exhibition in Berlin Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
, critic Jay Weissberg, in a Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
article, called the movie "a one-note celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
thugs". Michel Misse, a researcher of urban violence in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in an article by Carta Capital, tried to explain why some people cheered at Captain Nascimento's actions: "as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for punishment, some may think civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
leads to unpunishment. And then, they want illegal solutions. That's why Captain Nascimento is called".
Awards
On February 16, 2008, The Elite Squad won the Best Movie award of the Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
, the Golden Bear.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film was a collection of popular hits, but even the soundtrack would not escape controversy as the Brazilian authorities demanded the removal of MC Leonardo's "Rap das ArmasRap das Armas
"Rap das Armas" is a 1990s song originally written and performed by Brazilian duo Junior e Leonardo.Cidinho & Doca , made it an international hit in 2008 and 2009...
" from the film, because of alleged promotion of violence like use of illegal arms and drugs. The filmmakers complied after two weeks of the official release.
- "Rap das ArmasRap das Armas"Rap das Armas" is a 1990s song originally written and performed by Brazilian duo Junior e Leonardo.Cidinho & Doca , made it an international hit in 2008 and 2009...
" - Bateria da Rocinha, MC Leonardo - "Tropa de Elite" - TihuanaTihuanaTihuana is a Brazilian rock band, formed in 1999 in São Paulo. Their musical influences include reggae, rap, rock and Latin music. They have gained prominence outside Brazil recently due to their part in the soundtrack of Tropa de Elite.-Members:...
- "Rap da Felicidade" - MC Cidinho, MC DocaCidinho and DocaCidinho and Doca is a Rio de Janeiro-based Brazilian rap duo made up of Sidney da Silva and Marcos Paulo de Jesus Peizoto , two prominent proibidão rappers.Proibidão refers to songs whose...
- "Passa Que é Teu" - Pedro Bromfman
- "Brilhar a Minha Estrela" - Sangue da Cidade
- "Kátia Flávia, a Godiva do Irajá" - Fausto Fawcett
- "Teatro de Bonecos" - Guilherme Flarys, Pedro Guedes
- "Polícia" - TitãsTitãsTitãs are a rock band from São Paulo, Brazil. Their best-known line up is the one in the album Cabeça Dinossauro : Nando Reis , Branco Mello , Marcelo Fromer , Arnaldo Antunes , Tony Bellotto , Paulo Miklos , Charles Gavin and Sérgio Britto...
- "Invasão do BOPE" - Pedro Bromfman
- "Lado B Lado ALado B Lado ALado B Lado A is the third album by Brazilian band O Rappa. It was produced by Chico Neves except the song Minha Alma which was produced by Bill Laswell. It is distributed through Warner Music...
" - O RappaO RappaO Rappa is a Brazilian reggae/rock band from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They combine many styles such as Rock, Reggae, Funk, Hip hop and Samba... - "Andando Pela África" - Barbatuques
- "Nossa Bandeira" - Bateria da Rocinha, MC Leonard
- "Rap das Armas [Funk]" - MC Leonard
Sequel
A sequel, named Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora É Outro, was released in October 8, 20102010 in film
The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
. It is scheduled to be released on the U.S. on November 11, 2011.
External links
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (US) - Official Website