Plot by Imdb: "Two childhood friends decide to enlist in Rio de Janeiro's Military Police Department. After juggling their police jobs and college, both make up their minds to try out for a Special Operations Squad whose mission is to take down the drug-lords that plague the city. Both men struggle to survive, facing the daily challenges of dealing with pressure at home and fighting an unnamed war on the streets."
Like everybody else I saw "Cuidade de Deus", a great stylistic movie about the violent history of a favela and its inhabitants lives. This movie, however, is the perfect counterpart. It's based on the everyday life of the police /armed forces that have to ensure the security in the favelas of Rio.
As quickly demonstrated, the corrupted Police is not up to the task and a Special Tactical Unit is handling all the "hardcore" operation: BOPE. Apparently, just mentioning their name frightens a lot of people in the favelas. People who are not easily frightened. And you can see why. The BOPE, as depicted in this movie, is the "vengeance arm" of the state, the "no rules, no prisoners taken" unit, that goes in when things get out of control. And things are almost always out of control. It's very frighteningly close to a fascist "Cleaning Unit" and you quickly feel they are evils, but you can't help but wonder: what else can we do ? What else can a society do to get rid of these problems ? The movie doesn't give you an answer.
It's really frightening as everybody personal lives are shredded to pieces by poverty, drug trafficking, psychological scars from the job (for the BOPE/Police officers) or fanatism.
The good will - middle class youngsters that try to help by other meanings (like working with humanitarian associations and such) are depicted as naive (if not accessories to the criminals) and ends up also being the victims of the violence from both sides. At the end, it seems we have a complete meltdown of society as one side thinks they have no choice but to live a life of crime and trafficking and the other side has decided to get rid of them, at all costs. A recipe for civil war. The doom of democracy.
Impressive movie, absolutely gripping from start to the end, impeccable work from the actors, and a mind blowing experience for the fat western viewer, sitting on his couch, expecting the usual action/crime movie.
A wake up call from Brazil.
PS: Just a quick note to say that its always nice to ear "Rio Baile Funk", as I'm a great fan of it. Brazilian street culture never stops to fascinate me.
Trailer with English subtitles:
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