Movie: Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad)

[Animeniax]

Awesome movie from Brazil about their police special operations unit called BOPE. I'd rank it above City of God (another famous Brazilian movie) in terms of emotional impact and action-packed excitement.

Definitely worth a watch, but not for the squeamish and not for the liberals who have a problem with police brutality.

[rockmanj]

Above city of god?? I should check this out then.

[rockmanj]

Bump

Oh, man this was so good! I regret not watching it sooner.

[Animeniax]

Just good? It's probably my favorite foreign language action/drama film. So much action and badassness. It's actually one of my main impetuses for wanting to become a police officer in the future.

[rockmanj]

Well, I do tend to understate things. I would not say its my favorite foreign film, per se (that might be infernal affairs or 7 Samurai), but it was indeed an excellent film...although I would never want to be a cop like that. Then again, neither did Matias...and look how he turned out!

[Animeniax]

I'd like to be a cop in that kind of situation because it's pretty much black and white, fewer shades of gray. If you're in a favela you know who the drug dealers and thugs are, you're free to apply lethal force. It's much better than not knowing who the enemy is, or having to show restraint, then taking a bullet in the back when you're not ready.

[rockmanj]

You do have a point there; it does make their job a lot easier. All they need to do is go in, basically frag, torture, and keep moving. And I must say, the guy that played Matias was really good. Like, he became a totally different guy, and honestly, I didn't really see that happening until the end...I mean, I was kinda like...yea he could become a BOPE, but when he finally became one...geez.

But Nascimento was kind of a dick. I mean, if you think about it; it was for his family, but he basically sacrificed another person to save himself. I understand it and all, but it was still kinda dickish.

[Animeniax]

Well it looks like that's the normal modus operandii in their unit: do your time, then find your replacement and you get to move on. In the movie, 3 other senior officers also picked their replacements, which is why Nascimiento only had Neto or Matias to pick from. I imagine these guys can only do this job so long before they become sociopaths or psychotic themselves. It's kind of like being a tech support person.

I loved the transformation in Matias from the idealistic college student who believes in the law to the blood-lusting BOPE cop who shoots dude in the face.

Also, the soundtrack sounds amazing. I like the Barapapapappa song and the end credits song.

[rockmanj]

Now that I think about it, Matias was kinda going to be the guy anyway, as they said that Neto had like the aggressiveness, but not the smarts, and Matias had the intelligence, but not the aggressiveness. Now, I doubt that Neto was going to get any smarter, as he was already an adult; but its not that hard to become a more aggressive person.

[Animeniax]

Yeah with the school scenes and background information they were giving on Matias, it was predictable that Matias would be the chosen one, but I didn't really think about it while watching the movie. I concentrated on the action and grittiness and less on the character development.

[Stitch]

When members of my clan and I play Killzone 2, we are quite literally the elite squad. Every match is every bit as exhilirating and leaves as much of an emotional impact. I really can't wait to get home and play some more. BTW, I've recently had a yearning to get back into versus mode on L4D as well. Does anyone want to join me?

[Animeniax]

Just wait until you have sex for the first time, Stitch. That will reset your gauge of relative exhilaration and emotional impact. Then go see this movie, and you'll find it's right up there.

[Stitch]

You really can't be 42 and seriously think you're going to be a kick ass cop now. Your time has passed. Keep your part time job at McDonald's.

[Animeniax]

Since I'm immortal, 42 is relatively young in my lifetime. You need to get this relativity thing down.