When rating or reviewing an American movie, the process is simple: Decide how much you liked the movie in a scale of 1 to 10. Usually this pertains to how much you enjoyed the story, or the style of filmmaking, or the actors. Most American movies are made for mass consumption.
On these terms, "Elite Squad" succeeds because it's a well-told, fast-paced story, told with the simplistic, high-on-adrenaline documentary style of filmmaking. There are a few good shots, but mostly the director just cares about getting in the face of the viewer, and quickening their pulse. For the most part, he succeeds.
But, this being Brazil, we must also look at the movie from another perspective: What is it trying to say? For certain, you can just ignore the politics of the film and focus on the gun battles, but there are long scenes of cops with their wives and girlfriends, or going through training, which for the "Squad" of the title, is really more like boot-camp.
I don't live in Brazil, I have never been to Brazil, but from my perspective the politics behind the film are shockingly naive. The characters claim to be fighting this great evil, slowly caving under the pressure of being the best cops in their nation, surrounded by corruption and dishonesty on all sides. And at the same time, they routinely lump in hard drug users, pimps, pot-smokers, and abortionists in the exact same category, while ignoring blackmail, bribery, and having beers after work. The film is not trying to say something about these cops-- it agrees with them, the protagonist spending the entire film training possible replacements, speaking passionately about the top two candidates via voice-over narration, as he hopes and prays the new squad leader will run the squad in exactly the same way as it was before.
If Brazil is this conservative from top to bottom, no wonder it's falling apart. "City of God" made us look at the favelas, the type of life their residents live in every day, and how hard it is to escape. It made us feel, and made us sympathize. In "Elite Squad," there is not a single redeeming character, and every male in it destroys countless others for his own selfish needs... while each and every woman and child is just there to get in the way, or else serve as punching bags.
The criminals are psychotic, the cops equally so, with innocent bystanders caught up either in the middle, or ignoring things from the sidelines. If director Jose Padilha is trying to tell us anything, it's "Brazil is an awful place, populated by awful people." I'm sure that's not true. But as long as the body count keeps stacking up, why would the audience care?
Filmmaking: 8/10 (its current IMDb average). Politically, 4/10. Bill O'Reilly would love this movie, because its message is even more idiotic than any movie Michael Bay ever made: "If we can only arrest or kill every pimp, every pot-smoker, every prostitute and every person who has an abortion, the country will be great again." Not only is that an impossible goal, it's the statement of an insane person. Compared to this, "Transformers" is positively intellectual.
On these terms, "Elite Squad" succeeds because it's a well-told, fast-paced story, told with the simplistic, high-on-adrenaline documentary style of filmmaking. There are a few good shots, but mostly the director just cares about getting in the face of the viewer, and quickening their pulse. For the most part, he succeeds.
But, this being Brazil, we must also look at the movie from another perspective: What is it trying to say? For certain, you can just ignore the politics of the film and focus on the gun battles, but there are long scenes of cops with their wives and girlfriends, or going through training, which for the "Squad" of the title, is really more like boot-camp.
I don't live in Brazil, I have never been to Brazil, but from my perspective the politics behind the film are shockingly naive. The characters claim to be fighting this great evil, slowly caving under the pressure of being the best cops in their nation, surrounded by corruption and dishonesty on all sides. And at the same time, they routinely lump in hard drug users, pimps, pot-smokers, and abortionists in the exact same category, while ignoring blackmail, bribery, and having beers after work. The film is not trying to say something about these cops-- it agrees with them, the protagonist spending the entire film training possible replacements, speaking passionately about the top two candidates via voice-over narration, as he hopes and prays the new squad leader will run the squad in exactly the same way as it was before.
If Brazil is this conservative from top to bottom, no wonder it's falling apart. "City of God" made us look at the favelas, the type of life their residents live in every day, and how hard it is to escape. It made us feel, and made us sympathize. In "Elite Squad," there is not a single redeeming character, and every male in it destroys countless others for his own selfish needs... while each and every woman and child is just there to get in the way, or else serve as punching bags.
The criminals are psychotic, the cops equally so, with innocent bystanders caught up either in the middle, or ignoring things from the sidelines. If director Jose Padilha is trying to tell us anything, it's "Brazil is an awful place, populated by awful people." I'm sure that's not true. But as long as the body count keeps stacking up, why would the audience care?
Filmmaking: 8/10 (its current IMDb average). Politically, 4/10. Bill O'Reilly would love this movie, because its message is even more idiotic than any movie Michael Bay ever made: "If we can only arrest or kill every pimp, every pot-smoker, every prostitute and every person who has an abortion, the country will be great again." Not only is that an impossible goal, it's the statement of an insane person. Compared to this, "Transformers" is positively intellectual.