Elite Squad: The Enemy Within/ Tropa de Elite 2 (EIFF)
This year, Brazilian cinema offers us a great film about the drug war in Rio de Janeiro. A film that addresses what it needs to on the streets and takes it to what is happening behind doors. Elite Squad 2 is an intense and engaging watch from start to finish.
Maturing a lot from the first film (it isn’t integral to have watched the first film either, any appropriate recaps are given) Elite Squad 2 is not your standard crime/ action film but one that still ticks those boxes and more.
After a miscommunication in a prison leads to a massacre by the BOPE squad, Human Rights activist Dioga Fraga (Irandhir Santos) creates a public outrage and breaks down the system put in place and the worlds of the police force, special tasks unit, politics and the slums are put into imbalance. Told on several levels by Fraga who now becomes invested in the world of politics; Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura), ex-BOPE who has been heralded by the people for having no-tolerance against criminals is set to work in the Secretary of Security sector, as well as the politicians when the Governor Gelino sets up a squad of militia.
Elite Squad 2 was an absolute joy to watch; fast-paced, tense and not cutting any corners about the matter, the storylines don’t seem to be that much of sprawling ones as they are neatly brought together with great direction by Jose Padilha – I can fully understand why Elite Squad is such a sensation in Brazil.