Simon is mesmorised by Jose Padilha's ELITE SQUAD on DVD...
RELEASE DATE: 26th January 2009 How could this not be a mouth-watering prospect? A semi-fictional account of the brutality and corruption of one of the worlds most notorious paramilitary police commando forces- BOPE. And not only that its set in Brazil- the most intriguing of corrupt countries, which always threatens to implode spectacularly. First off, a little bit of history. The films plight is already as notorious as its subject- the first problem arising during filming, which was marred by a group of fake policemen impounded a van-load of prop guns, and then a load of real policemen trying to censor the films depiction of their uber-corruption. And when they failed in their quest, what better a way to exact revenge than by launching a second attempt to sue, this time focusing on the former BOPE members whod helped train the actors and supplied them with information. But it was in post-production that the calamities really rolled out, and most of it was thanks to a careless subtitler and those cheeky devils the DVD pirates. An estimated 11 million people saw the leaked copy of the film (and the subtitler quickly lost his job), but the film still managed to be the legitimate highest grossing Brazilian film of the year. It did so well in fact that those pirate fellas cobbled together some footage of real police operations and passed it off as a sequel- the bounders! ELITE SQUAD is borne out of a wonderful culture of inflammatory favella-cinema- from Padilhas first film, the horrifyingly affecting BUS 174, CENTRAL STATION, LINHA DE PASSE, and of course CITY OF GOD- films reflecting the truth of Brazil, and not the myth of the mardi-gras,. These are truly obscene love-stories for the country they depict- the country on their knees, taking it hard from the men appointed to rule. The film leaves considerable bad taste in the mouth, but rightly so. All of which seem to suggest a movement by film makers to confront those in power with the atrocity of their country and shame them into positive action. The politicised intentions of the film can be easily traced back to the earliest stages of development, when ELITE SQUAD was envisaged as a documentary on urban violence in Rio, as seen through the eyes of a violent cop. That it became a fictional movie was down to the Rio police forces unwillingness to talk. But then controversy doesnt necessarily make a good film- recently CASS hit the silver screen, glorifying violence and doing nothing for the image of the stereotypical English hooligan, but its still shit. Something that is unavoidable from the film is the absurdity of the situation, beautifully evoked by the background story of the Popes visit to Rio and the ridiculousness of sending the BOPE into the slums he wished to stay in for one night for weeks in advance, and the subsequent death-toll. ELITE SQUAD has four recognisable levels of society; all interlocked in such a way that reflects the sorry state of Brazil as director Jose Padilha sees it. First the upper-classes, who use recreational drugs (as evoked by the Playboy character) and thus finance the second level, the drug dealers (Baiano), who they seek to also be protected from by the third level, the (good) police. The fourth is made up of those police who recognise the destructiveness of that cycle- the rich financing those they fear- and exploit it to their own needs. It would be easy to see ELITE SQUAD as simply a critique of the Brazilian police, but there are too many layers to the narrative, and too many things that make such a simple opinion impossible. Firstly, Padilha complicates everything, creating a skewed moral universe in which he condemns the brutality of the BOPE, but applauds their punishment of corrupt cops and their constant adherence to (their version of) the law. Padilha may have suggested that the films focus is the police force, but that merely allowed the opposite perspective to BUS 174s criminal, and thus forms the second pillar of a trilogy of films looking at crime from three different perspectives- a third film will concentrate on politicians. The critique at the heart of the film is a far wider concern- Padilha seeks to explore the kind of social conditions that create both the corrupt cops at one point, and the ultra-violent BOPE members at another, as well as the drug-dealing villains. As he states in the interview that forms the only Extra on the DVD, you can only understand the behaviour of a social agent, if you understand the implicit and explicit rules of the society they live in. All in all, ELITE SQUAD is a comment on the state of Brazil as a whole, on the rotten soul of the country which leads to depraved human behaviour: we are constantly given the chance to forgive the actions of Nascimento and BOPE, even when they cross a dangerous line. Their ultra-brutality is forgiveable, or so Padilha suggests, because they are a product of a despicable society, and there is no other way. As Nascimento himself states: You may think what we do is inhuman; but as long as the drug dealers have guns, we have no choice. Such is the reality of Brazil, a great country rotten from its core, creating the difficult moral dilemmas that only a dystopia can. ELITE SQUAD has four recognisable levels of society; all interlocked in such a way that reflects the sorry state of Brazil as director Jose Padilha sees it. First the upper-classes, who use recreational drugs (as evoked by the Playboy character) and thus finance the second level, the drug dealers (Baiano), who they seek to also be protected from by the third level, the (good) police. The fourth is made up of those police who recognise the destructiveness of that cycle- the rich financing those they fear- and exploit it to their own needs. It is no surprise that such a system breeds corruption and violence. All of this social commentary plays out as the back-drop for the story of honest cops Matias and Neto, initially bright eyed, but sullied by the grime of their corrupt surroundings, and then indoctrinated into Nascimentos BOPE. The central boot-camp is as brutal as FULL METAL JACKETs, but without becoming excessive- the sequence explains the comradery of the outfit, and the subsequent venom with which Netos killers are pursued. Padilha has a fantastic ability to make even the most difficult of characters likeable- even the drug lord Baiano who ultimately kills Neto shows a flash of humanity when he refuses to shoot at the doomed cop in front of a child. But there is one character above all else who stands out in the film. The most unreliable of narrators and the epitome of flawed heroes, Wagner Mouras Captain Nascimento is a lesson in subtlety- his measured performance making his explosive near-psychopathic outbursts all the more affecting. So too his physical appearance aids the effect; Moura is remarkably youthful, despite his gravelly deep voice and the severe dark rings around his eyes, meaning his transformation into snarling mad man or psychotic hell-hound is profound and complete. You just have to applaud the way Moura depicts his physical deterioration, a psycho-somatic reaction to the stress of his job; he twitches, sweats and convulses through his turmoil, making the language gap totally irrelevant. He is the ultimate torn character- dedicated to his job, and unable to leave without finding a suitable replacement, but also terrified that the sadistic methods of BOPE and their worrying removal from human morality are corrupting his home life. There are those who will complain about the violence of the film- notably the repeated and deeply unnerving motif of suffocation by plastic bag at the hands of BOPE members. But there is no question in my mind that Padilha is offering an objective ethical enquiry into the deployment of these techniques and commenting on the society that makes those techniques unavoidable, rather than glamorising them in any way. Think of the way Hollywood deals with the death of a hero or a major villain in general, the perverse and masochistic protrayal of suffering is down to the infrequency of such events, but not in ELITE SQUADs universe. The frequent shootings in the film, even those of Neto and Baiano, are dealt with perfectly, without hyperbole- they are an unfortunate regular occurrence, as with the repeated suffocations, and as such do not deserve much of a second thought in this perverse world. At the final evaluation stage, I have to say ELITE SQUAD is excellent; an enormously impressive film that manages to be an enthralling social and political commentary, without abandoning its gripping narrative or excellent characterisations. If you can get your hands on a copy when it comes out at the end of the month, then I strongly suggest you do so. Extras: If there is one problem with this DVD its the distinct and unfortunate lack of Extras: there is surely infinite scope to have included a documentary on the real BOPE force, and even one depicting the training camps the actors went through in pre-production. The only thing that is available, though, is exceptional: an excellent and informative interview with director Jose Padilha, in impeccable English (from his time at Oxford), offering insight into the morality of and the politicised intentions of the movie.