If there hadn't been City of God, then Elite Squad might have made even more impact. But although it milks similar roots (the violence of Rio de Janeiro's poor areas), it at times feels as if it is doing just that milking it even if the details have been meticulously researched and re-created.
Prior to the visit of the Pope, the Rio authorities try a clean-up operation so there is no danger to his holiness (who wants to stay among the poor). Ironically, the Pope's visit thus engenders a spate of violence as gangs battle with the elite 'BOPE' police squad. BOPE has additional problems with the regular police, who are endemically corrupt and keep the peace through a system of gentle bribery. Given that a policeman earns about the same as a bus conductor, the 'bribery' is arguably less awful (for the most part) than it sounds, especially when kept within decent levels.
It should be added that the drug squads who run the slums not only police the slums (by and large) more effectively than the police do the regular areas, but are largely beneficent for instance paying hospital bills or doing other kindnesses. They have only two rules don't sell drugs on my patch and don't do anything to arouse police attention (such as mugging tourists in the slums). Many slums are therefore safer than the main tourist areas like Copacabana, and this is both from my own observation, visiting Brasil for many years, and from the accounts of people there. It is a two tiers society that, for the most part, live entirely separately. But, "when honest cops go into the slums, bad sh*t usually happens." (The main city, away from slums and tourist areas, is much like any other modern metropolis for safety, facilities, the arts and business.) It is perhaps no wonder that, however accurate the film is, it has aroused the ire of independent filmmakers in the famous carnaval city. As I sat in a restaurant on Copacabana beach, two independent filmmakers explained at length how they deplored the image that such films pumped out at the world (Elite Squad did rather well at the Berlin Festival). It is a far cry from the more balanced, but now dated, look of such films as Black Orpheus. As most people are unaware of the richness of Rio, it might be compared to making films exclusively about Bronx violence if no-one knew of the greatness of New York City.
Further ironies go unmentioned. The 'drugs problem', seen by westerners as stemming from South America, is seen by Brasilians as an American one (caused by American user demand). In Rio, American guns are traded for Colombian drugs. Neither are of great interest to Brasilians. And although the country is predominantly Roman Catholic, the papal visit to the slums can also be seen as an attempt to make inroads on the (more) indigenous and non-proselytising religions like Candoble that survive in such areas. Operation Holiness is 'plain foolishness.' One policeman says he would rather use his own money to pay for a good room for the Pope in Copacabana than protect him in the badlands.
One of the good moral points the film makes rather well is how rich kids who deal in a little weed are ignored. Whereas those in the slums are brutalised. The disparity is highlighted by a classroom discussion.
Elite Squad is a gritty, realistic action-heavy fight between 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. A lot of ordinary people in both camps get murdered and tortured along the way. The problem with Elite Squad is not the authenticity of what it includes but the relevance of what it leaves out.
Prior to the visit of the Pope, the Rio authorities try a clean-up operation so there is no danger to his holiness (who wants to stay among the poor). Ironically, the Pope's visit thus engenders a spate of violence as gangs battle with the elite 'BOPE' police squad. BOPE has additional problems with the regular police, who are endemically corrupt and keep the peace through a system of gentle bribery. Given that a policeman earns about the same as a bus conductor, the 'bribery' is arguably less awful (for the most part) than it sounds, especially when kept within decent levels.
It should be added that the drug squads who run the slums not only police the slums (by and large) more effectively than the police do the regular areas, but are largely beneficent for instance paying hospital bills or doing other kindnesses. They have only two rules don't sell drugs on my patch and don't do anything to arouse police attention (such as mugging tourists in the slums). Many slums are therefore safer than the main tourist areas like Copacabana, and this is both from my own observation, visiting Brasil for many years, and from the accounts of people there. It is a two tiers society that, for the most part, live entirely separately. But, "when honest cops go into the slums, bad sh*t usually happens." (The main city, away from slums and tourist areas, is much like any other modern metropolis for safety, facilities, the arts and business.) It is perhaps no wonder that, however accurate the film is, it has aroused the ire of independent filmmakers in the famous carnaval city. As I sat in a restaurant on Copacabana beach, two independent filmmakers explained at length how they deplored the image that such films pumped out at the world (Elite Squad did rather well at the Berlin Festival). It is a far cry from the more balanced, but now dated, look of such films as Black Orpheus. As most people are unaware of the richness of Rio, it might be compared to making films exclusively about Bronx violence if no-one knew of the greatness of New York City.
Further ironies go unmentioned. The 'drugs problem', seen by westerners as stemming from South America, is seen by Brasilians as an American one (caused by American user demand). In Rio, American guns are traded for Colombian drugs. Neither are of great interest to Brasilians. And although the country is predominantly Roman Catholic, the papal visit to the slums can also be seen as an attempt to make inroads on the (more) indigenous and non-proselytising religions like Candoble that survive in such areas. Operation Holiness is 'plain foolishness.' One policeman says he would rather use his own money to pay for a good room for the Pope in Copacabana than protect him in the badlands.
One of the good moral points the film makes rather well is how rich kids who deal in a little weed are ignored. Whereas those in the slums are brutalised. The disparity is highlighted by a classroom discussion.
Elite Squad is a gritty, realistic action-heavy fight between 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. A lot of ordinary people in both camps get murdered and tortured along the way. The problem with Elite Squad is not the authenticity of what it includes but the relevance of what it leaves out.