MovieChat Forums > Tropa de Elite (2007) Discussion > Not really sure of what to think of this...

Not really sure of what to think of this movie. (Spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by stencilwashington
17 replies | jump to latest

Well, I just finished watching the movie and am a little disappointed.
My Brazilian friends strongly recommended this movie, so I have to admit that my expectations might have been unsatisfiable (if that’s a word).

Nevertheless I don’t really see Padilha’s point.
Do I have to read between the lines here? or is this movie really simply justifying police violence and glorifying one form of corruption over the other?
What does Padilha mean when he says that the killing of the unarmed, defenseless drug-lord finally made Neto a real cop?
And what does that say about Brazilian police?

Well, right now I feel stupid and shallow-brained, because if Padilha’s only point was to make another city of god from a different angle, then this movie does not deserve all the praising it has received so far!!

Am I missing out on something BIG?

Help me out here, guys!!!!!

Cheers!

[–] rafaelmmoura 16 years ago

There is not a policeman glorification in the movie. Padilha doesn't support the police, as he already has said so many times in newspapers around the world. Pay attention to Captain Nascimento role. He is a distant father, a rude husband, a killer machine. During the movie, he faces a psychological decomposition, he even has to take medicines, talk to a psychologist. He doesn't want that life anymore. The movie is about the decline of Nascimento, and how his strenght and brutality is gradually transferred to Neto role. Neto, that could have chosen to be a law, a right man, picked up another life - he converted himself as a new Nascimento. Nascimento, in portuguese, means Borning. But, as Padilha show in the movie, when Neto chooses that life, he 'died' as a human being, and has become another killer machine.
Many people see policeman glorification in this movie, but, where is it? ELITE SQUAD is not about dramatizing, sentimentalism, the black-and-white game. Here, things are too more complicated, complex, interesting, thought-provoking.

[–] tomba-netropolis 16 years ago

The message this film gives the viewer could be interpreted as semi-fascistic, if you take it seriously. There's an elite troop who will in the end put things in order because everyone else is corrupted and morally bad.

Although the film is watchable as an action movie, I think it's a very speculative and superficial movie if it claims to be a "true story". It should not be seen as any sort of "documentary" of how it really is in Rio. It's bad enough as it is there with the poverty, the favelas, the drug lords, the police corruption and the normal people who have to deal with all this on a daily basis.

The movie is a commercial product aimed at the market who wants to see people getting killed on the screen as their Saturday night entertainment. It's not as good as other Brazilian films that have made it internationally, and that I've seen, like City of God.

Conclusion: well made action flick (7) with a dubious message (-1). My rating: 6

.

[–] rafaelmmoura 16 years ago

Which dubious message? Which heroes? The movie doesn't take side, doesn't support policeman or drug dealers. It is not a Hollywood movie, where the Villains and the Good Guys are well defined, separated, distinguished. How can the Good Guys be heroes if they torture and don't think twice before pulling the trigger? I really can't see why so many people say that TROPA DE ELITE is semi-fascist. Is GOODFELLAS a semi-fascist movie, just because it tells the story of a mafia guy? Is THE GODFATHER fascist?

[–] numbersix_99 16 years ago

Yes, people need to distinguish between the Elite Squad themselves being semi-Facist and the film being so. It certainly does gave space to interpret their actions as wrong, as contributing to a spiral of violence. that said, I think towards the end of the film the ambivalence towards the Elite Squad is less evident as it justifies their torture in order to get the murdering drug-dealer. But the film is certainly not black-and-white as many people say.

Of course, those who claim the film to be facist must ask themselves the question: would non violent activities solve the drug baron problem in Rio's favelas? The situation itself has no easy solution, and I don't see this film offering one either.

Overall, I think it was a good movie that provoked some thought, although I think the direction was too reliant on City of God.

[–] Buttflop 16 years ago

"Yes, people need to distinguish between the Elite Squad themselves being semi-Facist and the film being so."

It's funny, I've read an article somewhere where the exact same point was made about dirty harry.

Anyway, as you say the film tries to justify the actions of the elite squad towards the end. The narrator is a captain in the elite squad and the drug dealers are vilified (perhaps justifiably so). As I see it the film clearly tries to justify the use of death squads in crime fighting in Rio de Janeiro.

[–] dark_frances 10 years ago

You're absolutely right, this movie is a commercial product and should have been treated lightly. However, there is a big difference between Tarantino light films and this one - to me, Tropa took itself very seriously. Not as a documentary, but as a movie presenting a "real problem" and dealing with real "moral issues". Which made the glamorization far worse...

there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above her shoulder

[–] orangewarm 16 years ago

I think all the director is doing is educating us. Yes, it is sort of a City of God from the view of the policebut also he is just showing us how it is in Rio.

The point of the "good cop turned bad" is simply showing how a cop changed from being an idealist to a realist. The captain had to make sure his men were in good hands - he needs someone ruthless, but also smart to take over from him so that his mean will be safe. The cop was already smart, what he was missing was that killer instinct - so the captian had to make sure he was trained properly - by committing that final action he was cementing himself into his new life. The purpose of those cops is to scare the hell out of drug dealers - we've seen what can happen if dealers get too powerful ie in Columbia (Excobar) and Mexico.

[–] Shilly-Shally 16 years ago

I thought above all the film was too stylised. The action had the pace and bravado of a Hollywood film, not to mention the use of heavy drum and bass in the background. And I don't think there was an element of satire in these artistic decisions, more to heighten the entertainment.

Was there really an internal struggle for Nascimento considering how much he relishes his position and wears the badge with pride?

The film can easily be praised for an attempt at an interesting critique on the necessity of fascistic measures because there is simply no other way to treat the hellish corruption of Rio, but this element is completely overshadowed by the masochistic nature of the film. This style of filmmaking is simply not understated enough to provide the viewer with subtle observations.

Elite Squad is thought provoking for sure, but its elements are not cohesive enough to be anything beyond food for thought.

[–] flasuss 16 years ago

"Was there really an internal struggle for Nascimento considering how much he relishes his position and wears the badge with pride? "

WHAT? Have you bothered watching the movie? The man has serious psychological problems, is agressive and distant towards his wife, and is trying to leave everything. Of course there is internal struggle, damn it!

When you kill a man to defend an idea, you're not defending an idea. You're killing a man.

[–] Jose Guilherme 16 years ago

Curiosly no one mentioned what is in fact a central theme of the movie.

That the middle and upper class consumption of drugs is what is fueling the violence... and how these people don't understand their role in all the cycle of violence. They want the elite police to kill the same drug dealers that supply them in order to feel safe.

The film shows how the police and the poor are the ones getting the worst of it... while the middle class can't even undertand they are the main reason for all of this. How the idealistic cop becomes less than human.

[–] EasyCompany 16 years ago

Drugs have always existed since ancient world, everywhere and everytime.

But we dont have modern societies with the level of drug-related explicit violence as shown in this movie.

Thats what make this story unique.

[–] MindDazer 16 years ago

This is not the central theme of the movie. People will always find a way to consume drugs, you can ask that to any Antropologist. Rich or poor, cocaine or marijuana, it will be there. It's a reality throughout the world. This opinion showed the very narrow way of cpt. Nascimento of seeing things (being a BOPE member, nothing different would be expected).

"Fueling" the violence... C'mon! That's STUPID. It demonstrates your limited knowing of Brazil's (and other periferic countries') History. We had masses that were expelled from the country to the cities (that was because we didn't have an Agrarian Reform, thus leaving the property of the vast lands on the hands of only a few) after the Green Revolution - machinery in the country. Without a decent place to live, those people had to live in cities that did not have the infrastructure nor sufficient jobs for all of them. Generations passed and the problems were not solved. People are born in this condition and they face, one time or another, the difficult decision: to live shortly as a king (selling drugs, arms, kidnapping, etc.) or "long" as a john doe.

If your problem (obviously you were largely influenced by the charismatic Nascimento) is on the demand side of the equation, why don't you say anything about avid European/North-American consumers of cocaine? They buy it from "us"! Should people stop using drugs? Or is it more intelligent to invest in hospitals, education, innovation systems, sports, culture and social insertion?

[–] MindDazer 16 years ago

Nobody replied to this!?

[–] Jessica_Rabbit69 14 years ago

OK, this conversation is 2 years old, but I'll reply anyway. Just because I love this movie.

"There is not a policeman glorification in the movie"
Bope is maybe not glorified, but it certainly is not vilified either. If the movie is partial to one party at all, be it drug dealers, regular police, rich kids or Bope, it certainly shows the most respect for Bope. Their job is the hardest by far.

"The movie is about the decline of Nascimento"
I don't think decline is the right word. Look at Nascimento's hand near the end of the movie when he throws away the pills. Completely steady. He has himself under control again.

"I thought above all the film was too stylised. The action had the pace and bravado of a Hollywood film"
Didn't think it was Hollywood at all. Thank God. Otherwise the action scenes would all have been CGI (complete with flying through the air action sequences) and the actors would all have had lots of plastic surgery. Just watch any US action series/film nowadays. You just know the director is going to yell "Cut" the second one little hair of the hero's hairstyle is out of place.
Also, Nascimento would have been played by pretty-boy Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio. That would have been convincing.

Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

[–] theevilmonkeycmp3 13 years ago

None of this stuff bothered me, unlike most ppl I understand that sometimes you have to be as raw as the ppl you're dealing with, my problem was this movie was a bit of a mess, it was all over the place, and the V.O. was annoying as hell, he shouldn't have been telling the entire story like he was, they could have done better with the editing of this story.

One mans wife was another mans slut This has been a MomentofTruth brought to you by TheEvilMonkey.

[–] kissofjudas 13 years ago

the only thing that bothered me about this movie is how over-rated it was. i often felt like i was watching a wanna-be city of god.

meh.

[–] subase 13 years ago

Nasciemiento was under control again but only because he told his wife to get stuffed.

That is he's become completely absorbed in his job.

Not really sure of what to think of this movie . (Spoilers)

Not really sure of what to think of this movie. (Spoilers)