Elite Squad (The Elite Squad) - BZ-NL-USA 2007 - Regie: José Padilha - Kamera: Lula Carvalho - Produktion: Marcos Prado, Jose Padilha - Koproduzenten: Eliana Soarez, James D'Arcy - Schnitt: Daniel Rezende - Drehbuch: Jose Padilha, Rodrigo Pimentel, Braulio Mantovani - Darsteller: Wagner Moura (Capitão Nascimento), André Ramiro (André Matias) , Caio Junqueira (Neto), Maria Ribeiro, Fernanda Machado, Milhem Cortaz, Paulo Vilela ua - FSK: keine Jugendfreigabe - Fassung: OmdU - Länge: 115 min. - Start: 06/08/2009
Mit Elite Squad kommt nun der Berlinale-umstrittene Gewinner des Jahres endlich regular letzen in the cinemas. had chaired the jury at that time Costa-Gavras held, a director with Z (ALG-F 1969) in the late 60's popularized a similar movie style. Padilhas film talks about the BOPE, a Brazilian elite military police unit that advances regularly in the favela, to eliminate drug dealers and shoot out their own, often corrupt colleagues from dangerous situations - to shoot or, depending on your mood, even the same time. Padilha preferred film techniques that suggest a documentary gesture and target a verismo effect. Often, the hand-held camera pans in conversations between the characters back and forth, just as if nothing staged was. More often it takes the role of a participating observer, too, the camera man cowers away in action scenes, accompanied a journalist same embedded shoot-outs as well as the training missions in the city slums. In one scene, a few drops of fake blood spilled on the lens, leaving little pink spots hang for the rest of the set of the images. All this to say to us: We are in immediate, direct, unadulterated.
Favela The subject has in recent years, particularly since Cidade de Deus (City of God, BZ 2002), the branch of the cinema created a niche that is often so overbearing as disparaging "world cinema" referred to. Many of these back as a 'left' films are understood in their construction of "realism" on Pontecorvo and Costa-Gavras' political propaganda films from the swinging 60s, in part, by the poetic realism of the French and the Neorealismo the Italian. This exercise Pontecorvo's masterpiece La battaglia di Algeri (The Battle of Algiers, ALG I-1966) in its skilful construction of realism, pathos and history probably the greatest impact. But the U.S. has in this New Hollywood new "ghetto movies" left their mark. It was particularly Scorsese and Altman, who turned himself from the 1970s repeatedly closed environment, these portrayed by an ensemble cast as a multi-perspective microcosm. As Altman is less for the fate of individuals as Nashville (USA 1975) self-interested and Scorsese explores particularly in New York, Little Italy and the Mafia in the New World, where he Las Vegas or New York in Casino ( USA 1995) and Gangs of New York (USA 2002) as an organism treated, so films like Cidade de Deus and Tropa de Elite fascinated by neighborhoods, Institutions, hermetically sealed environment. At least partially so that they follow an ethnographic orientation as part of the cinematic narrative. In Cidade de Deus was the object to be examined most directly the favela and its residents, at Padilho it is now mainly an elite unit, as it were the enemy of the favela, which is the real protagonists of the film structured in three acts.
beginning us, the voice-over in front of Capitão Nascimento (Wagner Moura), the main conflict: corruption in the regular police, a BOPE officer, of his successor studied (Nascimento himself), two potential candidates for this, the social environment, including the private conflicts. The second part describes the military training of recruits at a training camp and the first missions during "Operation Dad", the violent "cleansing" of the slums for the announced visit of the Pope. In the third, the shortest act to follow probation and failure of candidates as superior. Here is revealed then, a weakness of the concept that makes just the first half of the movie so much: In the end we can do little with the protagonists, they leave us cold, and not just because they are increasingly cruel act, but because sparked primarily interested in the environment and the open and hidden power structures (one of the recruit, the university training courses attended, preparing there before a paper on Foucault - a hint, hint for reviewers, optionally also a tribute to the historical document that has written a group of sociologists).
was repeatedly accused the film a fascist attitude. In fact emphasizes Nascimento, the central character of the movie, once, that he would only wear black uniforms . The emblem of the unit is a Skull with crossed pistols and a dagger, and the SS associations are obvious. The actions: The repeated torture, shown in detail with the plastic bag over his head, the beating, the initial shooting, then-question mentality. Once one of the officers can pull down the torture of the victim's pants, grabs a broom style and spits on the head. Mercifully Padilha can admit the victim so that he will not show even the rape. The training is to create prime target, Killer. At the very end of the film the more intellectual of the two young candidates is mutated in some of the death squad. As he is preparing a whimpering dealer, at least for his family with a disfigured face begs with the shotgun just knock away this explains the voice of satisfaction from the off, now he is finally a real BOPE-man.
Is it fascist to show it? Or does the movie especially fascism of his characters? - An old question whose answer often reveals more about the attitude of the reviewers than about the film. The fact is that the score here, so it exists, is very taken back by Foucault and Milgram references at the beginning or not. The main plot with the Pope's visit may be the clear positioning of the film: As the head of the Catholic Church comes to visit and is just in the head, in the slums descending. Just for this arrogance of power must die hundreds. As for the drawing of the BOPE, but I would bet that would occur for each critical article about the movie or the real, existing at least a young Brazilian BOPE police officer in such an elite unit. That the film ultimately remains open for any interpretation, but at least better than the audience to patronize permanent. A slightly stale flavor remains nevertheless. Perhaps, but the stems from the fact that you noticed sooner or later, how much one is the martial staging soldierly manhood unexpectedly into the trap.
