My Movie Collection

The Elite Squad (Portuguese: Tropa de Elite) is a 2007 Brazilian film. The movie is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Portuguese: Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police. It is the second feature film and first fiction film of director José Padilha, who had previously directed the acclaimed film Bus 174. The script was written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Bráulio Mantovani, based on the book Elite da Tropa by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two former BOPE captains, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel.

The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.

Set in 1997, Elite Squad follows the lives of a BOPE captain, Nascimento, and two potential BOPE officers and childhood friends, Neto Gouveia and André Matias, and their experiences revolving the visit of the pope John Paul II to Rio de Janeiro. It visualizes the struggle against the high levels of corruption eminent in the city and depicts the drug trafficking militias which have virtual control within the favelas while the police run their criminal enterprises outside. At the same time, Captain Nascimento must balance his attempts to find a replacement with becoming a father. And while Gouveia is quick on the trigger to maintain order, Matias refuses to compromise his ideals, leading him to make some tough choices.