Elite Squad: Review By Raphael290

First of all, I do not agree with the idea of comparing this movie with "City of God", which has a completely different message and focuses on a different angle of things. Just because the two of them have a geographic common-point and are made by Brazilians is irrelevant. That's like saying all American-made movies situated in New York are all the same (e.g. Gangs of New York and Maid in Manhattan). This movie does not deal exactly with corruption per Se, which has a secondary role in the picture. It has to do with how someone with a strong sense of honesty and justice can excel and be heard in a system so intrinsically rotten without being chastised. In addition, it also analyzes how middle and upper-class kids get involved in the world of drugs just to be cool or fit in, and what the repercussions of this are. One of the strongest messages in the movie was: " How many children have to get involved in drug trafficking just for a teenager to be able to roll a joint?". This goes along with the scene towards the beginning in which the BOPE captain rubs the rich kid's face in the bloody bullet hole in the drug dealer's chest and asks "who did this?... You did this, you finance these people by buying their drugs and get them killed." Even though I never experimented with drugs, I felt ashamed to be middle class, I felt ashamed of my colleagues who innocently smoke pot or whatever... our culture sees these people as the curve-setters of coolness, but we fail to see what allows this to happen... there is a tragic reality backing this apparently innocuous habit. But there is an even more powerful message in the movie, one that has made me think just as much as the first one. In spite of all the garbage that goes on, there are still people who are willing to fight for what they believe is right, without resources or support, earning minimum wage and risking their lives for a principle. This may not mean a lot to most people, but it struck a cord with me. Members of the BOPE are rigorously trained, withstanding a brutal amount of punishment and humiliation in the process, but come out with a rock-solid sense of discipline and justice. I do not know if this status is still a reality, but just the fact that it was at some point is inspiring. I'm not going to emphasize the clichés that everyone usually puts out, like "this movie is not for the faint of heart". This movie reflects reality like few movies do... it is exactly like life... sterile, cold, efficient, and merciless. Drug dealers and police officers are at war, they take no prisoners and feel no compassion for the enemy. It's not like a hero will come flying in to save the good guys in the end... there is no hero, only ordinary people, just like life. This movie also made me hate Hollywood flicks and celebrities even more... prefabricated sewage that we pay to see, conforming to our emotions to make us feel better about our own apathy. Some scenes will stick in your head over days, such as the guy being burned alive trapped in the middle of a stack of tires (this is called a "microwave", something I actually had read about in a news magazine a few months before the movie was made) and the way Matias shut up that class full of rich snobs. Anyway, I have rambled enough... sufficient to say this movie was phenomenal and achieved a new level of film-making. This movie is for everyone, not just for those with intestinal fortitude. We all share the same world, and it's about time we took the blindfolds off and realized that we do indeed have a role in all the filth we so cavalierly critique as someone else's problem.