Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora é Outro [Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within] (***)
Directed by: José Padilha
Starring:
Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, Maria Ribeiro, Sandro Rocha,
Milhem Cortaz, Tainá Müller, Seu Jorge, André Mattos
Seen:
March 2nd 2012
***
Out of ****
Elite Squad 2 is an interesting mix to say the least. It’s a political
thriller, a family drama, a police procedural, and a prison action movie. At
the time of this writing it’s Brazil’s highest grossing movie ever, beating out
even Avatar. The movie tells of Brazil’s political and police system in such a
way that the producers added a disclaimer at the start of the movie
(paraphrased): “The events portrayed are fictional, even though it might not
seem so”. This also comes at a time when the events depicted in the film, that
of police radically attempting to clean the slums of drugs and drug-lords,
parallel events happening in real life as Brazil prepares to host the 2016 World
Cup.
Captain Nascimento (Moura) has implemented an ambitious plan to clean
the Brazilian slums, eliminating drug-trafficking as far as possible, attempting
to not only deal with the drug problem, but also with a dirty cop problem. His
reasoning is that dirty cops will reduce their illegal activities once druggies
and informants cannot pay them off anymore. This backfires when the leader of
the corrupt cops, Rocha (Rocha), realises that this in actual fact opens up the
door for him to take control with the crime lords now officially out of the
way. The dirty cops think up all kinds of new schemes to take control of even
more of the slums, as this means more money. They are shown to be brutal in the
enforcement of their rule, and the veneer of public safety is another
compounding element bringing rise to yet another level of corruption.
Some less-than-savoury politicians see the opportunity to, in light of
the reign of fear of the aforementioned dirty police force (and in conjunction
with them); grab votes in densely populated areas where people are far removed
from the political engine yet still wield significant power in the Brazilian
democracy. This vote greed, regardless the cost, stokes milícias
(Military Police Force – dirty…) into ever more violent and gluttonous
expansion. Fighting the good fight is Diogo Fraga (Santos), a lecturer who
becomes a member of government taking the challenge to, among others, the very
over-the-top Fortunato, a State Representative with his own tabloid TV show,
benefitting greatly from the corruption. Fraga is married to Nascimento’s
ex-wife, and Nascimento feels that Fraga is to blame for his son falling away
from him while he also sees that they are fighting on the same side. Fraga has
little resources at his disposal, with only one journalist he completely
trusts, Clara (Müller), who puts herself in more danger than is necessary
to get the story.
Elite Squad 2 is a good and engaging movie, with some parts of it
almost feeling like a documentary in its portrayal – I say this as a compliment,
it is not to break the movie down. I realised at one point that I was
completely sold on the acting of just about all actors, they do a fantastic job
of bringing this script to life. The subtitles felt a bit quick-flash at times,
and it is not always easy to decide which to sacrifice, visuals or dialogue.
This movie is incendiary, and if you feel like something completely different,
something that gives very relevant social commentary while at the same time
entertaining with its story-telling and presentation, then Elite Squad 2 is for
you.
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