Elite Squad

aka: Tropa de Elite
Brazil 2007, 110 minutes
Dir. José Padilha
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Rating: [R18]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Action/Adventure / Policier

Topics: Drugs & Alcohol.

Feat. Wagner Moura, Andre Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz

Aroview: Brawny South American policier centred on a special division of Brazilian drug enforcement at war with the drug lords of Rio de Janeiro.

Stacked with muscle flexing and tough guy posturing, the film’s excursions into social commentary feel clumsy and very much an afterthought, in which Brazil’s drug problem is hung as an exotically dangerous backdrop to men shooting at each other with guns. A cocky, intrusive voice-over by the story’s jaded protagonist only adds to the sense of self-importance that this carries through its frenetic street battles and slumdog glamorising.

NZ International Film Festival 2008