The Elite Squad

Colour, 35 mm
Brazil, Argentina, 2007, 118 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Nascimento, a young police officer awaiting his first child with his wife, is assigned to head an elite squad battling drug gangs in a Rio de Janeiro favela. His professionalism so amazes young Neto and Matias that they sign up for training for Nascimento’s unit. The captain needs to consolidate the young men’s drive and intellect to give himself an adequate replacement that will let him get back to his family. In such a risky setting, however, there is no time for plans for the future. The Elite Squad is the first Brazilian film to take a thorough look at the drug trade from the point of view of the police and to ask just how far upholders of the law can go. The boundaries between victim and culprit begin to blur, and, with them, the perception of the competence of the elite BOPE unit’s crackdowns. Many members of the crew of City of God (2002) contributed to the film, which is every bit as electric as Black Hawk Down (2001).

About the director

José Padilha (b. 1967, Rio de Janeiro) graduated from his hometown university and was also a student at Oxford. After gaining experience as a producer and director of television documentaries, he made the film Bus 174 (2002), which was shown in the documentary competition of the Karlovy Vary festival in 2003 and, among other prizes, won the Audience Award and the FIPRESCI prize at the Rio de Janeiro IFF. In the KVIFF’s documentary competition in 2005, festival audiences had the opportunity to see the film Estamira (2004, Best Documentary, KVIFF 2005), which Padilha produced with Marcos Prado, his partner from the production company Zazen Produções, who directed the film. The Elite Squad ties in to the social themes of Padilha’s documentaries and is his feature film debut.