Main Cast: Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz, Fernanda Machado
Release Year: 2008
Country: BR/US/BR
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
For decades, the South American metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has clocked in as staggeringly lethal. Its violence-scarred and blood-strewn ghettos (or "favelas") are regularly patrolled by crazed drug gangs whose open-fire battles with police often spread out onto the main thoroughfares and turn ordinary civilians into casualties. In response, the Brazilian government formed a crack paramilitary force known as the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, or Special Police Operations Battalion) to take matters into its own hands. Now, director José Padilha's social-consciousness drama Tropa de Elite carries viewers inside of BOPE for a scathing indictment of the cycle of violence that permeates Brazilian society, scripted by 12-year-plus BOPE veteran Rodrigo Pimentel. Wagner Moura (Hector Babenco's Carandiru) stars as Captain Nascimento, the leader of a BOPE unit who is seriously considering retirement in the face of his impending fatherhood. In an effort to pick his successor, he looks to two younger recruits, part-time law student André Matias (André Ramiro) and the bellicose hood Neto (Caio Junqueira) -- but soon recognizes that these naïve men will need to seriously mature before one can take the reins. Inevitably, the events that each encounters on the roughshod Brazilian streets -- particularly a trip to clean up some of the neighborhoods in anticipation of the pope's visit -- begin to shape and redefine them in ways that neither can even begin to anticipate. Meanwhile, BOPE grapples with its own internal problems -- particularly the extreme corruption and underhandedness of each squad leader, whose sideline activities range from resupplying weapons to gangs to the racketeering of strip clubs. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
Cast
Wagner Moura - Capitão Nascimento
André Ramiro - André Matias
Caio Junqueira - Neto
Milhem Cortaz - Capitão Fábio
Fernanda Machado - Maria
Maria Ribeiro - Rosane; Fabio Lago; Fernanda de Freitas; Paulo Vilela - Edu; Marcelo Valle; Marcello Escorel; Andre Mauro; Paulo Hamilton; Thogun; Rafael d'Avila; Emerson Gomes; Patrick Santos; Erick Maximiano Oliveira; Bruno Delia; Andre Santino; Ricardo Sodre
Credit
Fatima Toledo - Casting, James D'Arcy - Co-producer, Eliana Soarez - Co-producer, Claudia Kopke - Costume Designer, José Padilha - Director, Phil Neilson - Second Unit Director, Rafael Salgado - Second Unit Director, Daniel Rezende - Editor, Scott Martin - Executive Producer, Bia Castro - Executive Producer, Maria Clara Ferreira - Executive Producer, Genna Terranova - Executive Producer, Eduardo Costantini - Executive Producer, Pedro Bromfman - Composer (Music Score), Martin Macias Trujillo - Makeup, Tule Peake - Production Designer, Lula Carvalho - Cinematographer, José Padilha - Producer, Marcos Prado - Producer, Armando Torres Jr. - Sound Mixer, Leandro Lima - Sound/Sound Designer, Alessandro Laroca - Sound Editor, Braulio Mantovani - Screenwriter, José Padilha - Screenwriter, Rodrigo Pimentel - Screenwriter
