Hacker Cinema
Elite Squad
Tropa de Elite
2007 · Film · 115 min
Part of Elite Squad Collection
Directed by José Padilha
In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.
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15 comments on Hacker News
Incredible movie. And, the backstory is incredible as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Squad
I usually direct people to watch the movies Elite Squad 1 and 2. They're entertaining and pretty much explain why Rio is so violent and so corrupt and how both things feed off each other.
I just need to add context to this.
In "lawless" places like Mexico the state has no monopoly on violence, the cartels are also functioning as security in areas where they wield power. I'm more familiar with Brazil and in the slums there, the police and local drug gangs battle for control. As a citizen of that slum, you often will side with the local gang instead of the corrupt police (see the movie "Tropa de Elite" for a brilliant fictionalization of this). The cartels are only known in the US for their contributions to violence and the drug trade, but they are as much a part of the security story in Mexico as the state is.
In the US, when someone is killed by the police, the state (via the police apparatus) does everything it can to shift blame to the victim, usually engaging in character assassination. Here we have a very different story, where the cartels are apologizing for errant murders and handed over the cartel members who were involved in what must have been considered an unapproved action by cartel leadership.
Add to that the fact that the victims in this case were black Americans. It feels like it is only recently that I heard of a story where US state police killed someone black and there were immediate corrections and repercussions of the officers involved (meaning Tyre Nicols and the "scorpion" team"). I'm sure it betrays my media isolation, but I've generally only heard of stories where police killed someone and then years later there was a successful smothering of the story and the officers were back on the beat.
This is incredible to me. Is this not a completely bizarre story to anyone else?
I know the AP story is just a story and probably missing lots of context, but I've never seen anything like this.
I grew up in Rio de Janeiro right next to a few favelas. I also served time in the Brazilian army (mandatory drafting) for 12 months and was not only surrounded by guys from all types of favelas but was stationed on the border of the Maré Complex.[0]
Trust me. I know a thing or two about favelas.
I could write a book about it but I’ll stick to the topics on the OP’s article and some recurrent topics in the comments, some very unfounded.
The answer to how people below the poverty line can afford technology is simple: donations and debt.
It’s _very_ common in Brazil to accrue debt by buying things “parcelado” or in instalments on your credit card. Next to one one pays the full amount upfront for a meaningful purchase. Wanna buy a smartphone for $USD200? Pay 10x $USD23 over 10 months.
Why are these expensive gadgets not stolen? Of course they are. However not as commonly as one might guess, it’s virtually impossible to commit a crime unseen in a favela. There’s very little to no privacy at all. A mixture of citizen justice (wife beaters for example are routinely bashed by crowds of people) and drug dealers’ willingness to assert authority keeps most stupid thefts in check.
Favela residents will go to surprising lengths to acquire “escape”. In the 1990s it was the parabolic antenna and a tv. With the intro of cheap android devices and 3G it became social media and YouTube. As the price for VR drops it’ll be that.
Much before Facebook there was a social media app that exploded in Brazil, it was called Orkut, it was a reflection of the need for escape.
Also, with the advent of more and more cheap laptops, the promise of easy NFT/Crypto money and a magical job as a coder it’s becoming more and more common to see laptop ownership.
I see what Mr Chantilly is trying to do and it’s easy to dismiss it as a single fart in the galaxy but he helps keep some kids off the streets, gives them a bit of hope. Hopefully they learn more than League of Legends and come out of it speaking a little English and more comfortable using a pc.
What’s needed in Rio and Brazil is a multi-generational educational investment. It’ll never happen of course. Populist demagogues like Lula da Silva will keep being re-elected to “save the poor”. By rubber stamping high school certificates for people that can’t read why buying their votes with free food. Every 8 years or so they’ll rob so much they’ll get thrown out, a moron from the right will be elected, and the left will come back in again to reinstate the good times. Meanwhile a huge brain drain perpetuates.
Now on another note. If you’re a tourist in Rio STAY THE FUCK AWAY from any favelas. If you _must_ engage in poverty zoo/safari make sure you go with a trusted, long time in the market, tour guide and don’t forget at any time that you’re putting your life at risk. At any moment, there could be a police operation or a rival drug dealing gang using weapons of war in your immediate vicinity.
No I’m not exaggerating. I was shot at by AR15 and M16 rifles and returned fire with my shitty Belgium made FAL during an attempted “hit and run” on the barracks I was stationed at where a couple of maniacs on crack will jump the walls and try to get out with ammunition and rifles.
These days a lot of the hardcore drug gangs (or factions as they are often called in Rio) have been displaced by what most people would think of more classic mafia. Protection money, extra “taxes”, money loans, etc. These organisations are mostly comprised of corrupt ex and current policemen and low rank army personnel and therefore much more capable and educated than 90% of the dealers they displaced.
If you want to watch three great but extremely violent movies that explain this shift in power, watch these 3 in this order.
“City of God” - basically how violent drug dealing started in Rio back in the 70s. [1]
“Elite Squad” - the state of the war of drugs in Rio during the 90s. [2]
“Elite Squad 2 - Enemy within” - how it is was in the late 00s [3]
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maré,_Rio_de_Janeiro
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_God_(2002_film)
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Squad
[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Squad:_The_Enemy_Within
That is the sequel to Tropa de Elite (2007), by the same director, Jose Padilha. I strongly recommend watching Tropa de Elite first.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/
The same director's documentary Bus 174 (2002) is even much more intense and unforgettable.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340468/
He also created the amazing series The Mechanism (2018-), based on the Operation Car Wash investigations, during the last 10 years, into corruption in Brazil.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6873658/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Car_Wash
Tropa de Elite (2007) - One of few films with a genuine right wing (not Neocon Globalist Corporatist) perspective.
A Swedish Love Story (1970) - The innocence of youth vs. the cynical defeat of adulthood. Don't let the world corrupt your soul!
Apocalypse Now (1979) (must watch the Redux cut!) - The heart of man behind all the artifice and words.
In the Mood for Love (2000) - Dignity and beauty despite everything.
I'd certainly add City of God and City of Men to that list.
Along with Elite Squad, these movies are simply amazing.
Wagner Moura. the main character in Elite Squad, also stars as Pablo Escobar in Netflix's original series Narcos.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0609944/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
Recommended movie: Elite Squad and especially the sequel Elite Squad: Enemy Within.
It's about BOPE, the special operations unit of Rio de Janeiro police. The first is about the military anti-gang exploits, the second is a good hard look at what corruption looks like. The drugs aren't going away if you break up a cartel, neither is the money.
Oh, I didn't remember the lead. I liked Elite Squad, but it emphasized more the "action movie" and less the "harrowing portrayal of a real social quagmire". Then again, Bus 174 is a documentary, even if it has plenty of tension, so that's to be expected.
Never watched Bus 174, but my first experience with Padilha's work was "Elite Squad" [0], which coincidentally, I watched via Netflix's DVD rental service. And less coincidentally, had the same lead (Wagner Moura) as "Narcos".
[0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/
Brazil is a country where the correctional systems runs with 200.000 people over capacity and has had a 100-page UN report condemning practices which deny basic human rights, yet prison riots are treated by media simply as gang plots with no particular reason; Captain Nascimento, the protagonist of the "Elite Squad" films (who methodically kills/tortures drug traffickers) is regarded almost always as a hero instead of an aspect of the police to be criticized.
Particularly in the elections that happened last year, proposals to "end impunity" (as lowering the age for being treated as an adult in court) have had largely more electoral effect and have been widely more propagated than projects for improving rehabilitation capability or respecting human rights in prisons. In fact, it's common to hear the maxim "Human rights for right people [and not for criminals]" around here to disqualify proposals of the latter.
Thanks to this public opinion trend, stories like those in the article about people who are able to "get out" instead of being arrested or killed are largely ignored. (Seeing them on Hacker News is easier than on the daily newspaper or even than on left-wing blogs which hardly have journalism potential to get a story like this.) It's nice to see them.
... everyone should watch 2 "Elite Squad" movies done on the police that goes inside the favela BOPE (they have skulls as emblems).
BOPE? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalh%C3%A3o_de_Opera%C3%A7%C3%B5es_Policiais_Especiais
Elite Squad and Elite Squad 2, the movies, do a good job of portraying what speeder is talking about. The Brazilian favellas are run by drug lords. From my understanding, there has been a big push by Brazil to eradicate these criminals before the World Cup begins. It's quite interesting that BOPE is training US SWAT teams.
Here's an interesting video of Brazil's Special Forces (BOPE) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Y5flAuEFQ
Opinions on some of the movies from the list I've seen:
Idiocracy – Basically an ordinary comedy, with an above average plot, but overall nothing that special or interesting. Overrated.
Fight Club – One of my favourite movies, perhaps in my top 10. Really loved it.
The Game – Another great movie from David Fincher, I love the mysterious atmosphere of his movies.
The Man From Earth. – Huge disappointment, I never understood why people like this movie. It's basically one guy telling a predictable and boring story. One of the most overrated movies ever. (I mean overrated in subjective sense obviously.)
Traffic – One of the best movies about drugs and organized crime.
Inception – Above average but overrated, logically inconsistent, nothing really special about this movie. The Cell is another movie where people enter someone else's dreams and even though it has only 6.2 on IMDB, I think I enjoyed it more. The depictions of the dreams were definitely more creative and looked more dreamy.
Of the top of my head I would recommend these:
* Something from David Lynch – Lost Highway, Blue Velvet or Mullholland Drive.
* Requiem for Dream
* Evil (2003)
* Sin City
* Crank – not very known, but wow, this is the best action movie ever.
* Elite squad – another great action movie, very realistic, borderline documentary.
At the end of the post there's this quote:
> Simply put, content owners who can deliver quickly and without error are getting more licensing revenue from Netflix.
Really? Can Netflix afford to be picky with content owners? It seems their main problem is the limited size of their online catalog...? They should take anything they can get!
I just finished watching "Elite Squad 2"; it's such a great movie (really, it is: see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1555149/) that I wanted to watch the first one, but it's "only available on DVD".
Why, why, why?