Jose Padilha's "Tropa de Elite"

The movie is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE, the Special Police
Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police. Mentally
exhausted and disillusioned captain Nacimento seeks retirement. Before he
leaves, however, he must find a replacement for himself.

Tropa de Elite is an unapologetic look at the brutal life of Rio de Janeiro
s infamous favelas and slums. Due to high levels of corruption, drug
trafficking militias have virtual control within the favelas while the
police run their criminal enterprises outside.

It is the first fiction film of director Jose Padilha, who had previously
directed the acclaimed documentary Bus 174. The script was written by
Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Bráulio Mantovani (City of God),
based on the book Elite da Tropa by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two
former BOPE captains.

Both the film and the book have evoked widespread controversy since their
release. They paint an unvarnished picture of extensive, unpunished police
violence. At the same time the movie can be seen as justifying the latter.
As remarked in an interview by Michel Misse, (Universidade Federal do Rio
de Janeiro) "as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for
punishment, some may think civil rights leads to unpunishment. And then,
they want illegal solutions. That's why Capitao Nascimento is called".

The movie was awarded with the best movie award of the 2008 Berlin
International Film Festival, the Golden Bear.

Film is in Portugese with English subtitles.

Presented by Mart Viirand