It’s 1997, months before the Pope’s scheduled visit to Rio de Janeiro. Captain Nascimento of BOPE (an elite police battalion) is assigned to eliminate drug dealers in the dangerous slums. Nascimento struggles with this and the birth of his first child, and thus decides to leave the squad. Before he can do so, he must find a replacement. This proves to be very difficult as Captain Nascimento weeds out the corrupt officers to find two possible heirs. Tropa de Elite takes viewers into the seedy world of the war on drugs, featuring strong language and graphic violence.
It’s a gritty situation, and director José Padilha has blurred the line between good and evil. He doesn’t outright elevate the dealers. They are ruthless and money driven. Lacking in intelligence, they take their mistakes out on others. This is depicted as universal. The legal authority figures, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Many run racketeering scams. Others move bodies out of their district to avoid paper work. Our protagonist is one of the elite BOPE leaders and though he is conflicted, he believes in his work. Sharing the spotlight are Neto (Caio Junqueira) and Matias (André Ramiro). Matias is a student as well as a cop. His class is full of biased opinions. Students shout that the police are worsening the situation, while they uses their parents’ wealth to purchase recreational drugs in the ghetto.
Tropa de Elite is very attractive. The look is borrowed from a variety of intense projects, which utilize a pallet of orange and green. Cuts are crisp and pacing is brisk. The story structure is flawed as someone in the process felt that a nearly unbroken voice-over was needed to make sense out of it. If they had just started chronologically, the audience could have had time to piece it together. As is, it starts in the middle, and then works up and past that point. As a foreign language film, Captian Nascimento’s voice is constantly appearing in text as he explains things. This is very problematic for those trying to watch the gunfights and those who reject handholding. Sans these choices the end product would have benefitted.
I felt the filmmakers successfully walked the fine line between demonizing the corrupt players in law enforcement and drug dealers equally. But there is a lot of money on the line and viewers are interested in films which challenge authority. The people who green-lit the project are surely aware of the buzz antiestablishment films can create. This is evident in the numerous scenes showcasing torture in the name of justice. From my personal standpoint, I find movies that search for change to be hypocritical in concept and more often than not preachy. I think that anyone who produces a film for what they claim is social uplifting, be it through politics or other avenues, is ultimately seeking to gain a degree of prestige in themselves.
Mixed with clichés and few surprises the representation of the filmmaking craft is what largely takes center stage. I like the technical efforts. This assist in tone lends credence to whatever message is being represented, but whether you choose to endorse it is a matter left to yourself. For me, Tropa de Elite was a reminder of the rights and freedoms we have in the USA, wrapped up in an action-drama, and guarded by a longwinded Rottweiler. I’m fascinated by this gift. ***
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