- Title: BRAZIL: Brazilian Police movie "Tropa de Elite" a hit even before its debut
- Date: 27th September 2007
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 17, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) DIRECTOR OF "TROPA DE ELITE" MOVIE JOSE PADILHA SAYING: "We play a social game in Rio de Janeiro that has certain rules. For example, it is part of the rules of the social game, that the police officers should be poorly paid and trained. This is our reality."
- Embargoed: 12th October 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Reuters ID: LVA20R7267PMKKTAANARREUDQ0HF
- Story Text: Brazilian film director Jose Padilha speaks of his hit movie "Tropa de Elite" ("Elite Squad") about violence and corruption before its debut.
Even before its release, a new movie about a police war against Brazil's criminal gangs has become an underground hit and caused controversy, including a police effort to block its screening.
"Tropa de Elite" ("Elite Squad"), by Brazilian director Jose Padilha, will premiere at this week's Rio Film Festival which kicks off later on Thursday. It is the latest in a string of acclaimed home-grown movies showing Brazil's ugly side that includes the Oscar-nominated 2002 "City of God" about gangs in a Rio slum.
"Tropa de Elite" is a fictional look at police work in Rio.
Two honest cops leave the underpaid, poorly equipped and corrupt general police force to join the BOPE (Special Operations Battalion), whose officers are depicted as incorruptible and highly trained but who torture suspects for information and then shoot them.
In an interview before the premiere Padilha said the movie became a mass cultural phenomenon because of the nature of its debut.
"We knew that if this movie worked, if it had any reach with the public, it would create a debate. What happened is that this pirate copy was made, and the movie became a mass cultural phenomenon," he said.
The film is already a hit in Brazil after a copy was stolen during post-production and pirated. It is also a hot discussion topic on the Internet.
A group of officers tried unsuccessfully to block the premiere, saying the film denigrated the police. But it also lambastes social groups who work in the slums, the upper classes for financing crime with their drug habits and society at large for allowing a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
The director spoke of the difficult situation facing Brazilian police.
"We play a social game in Rio de Janeiro that has certain rules.
For example, it is part of the rules of the social game, that the police officers should be poorly paid and trained. This is our reality," said Padilha, a documentary maker who based his film on interviews with real police officers.
Padilha gets upset when people view the movie as praise for Rio's special forces police in their war against criminals. Torture and summary execution are not on his list of things that defenders of law and order should do.
He says it is understandable many Brazilians, tired of violent crime and government inertia, hail as heroes the cops who kill drug traffickers in shoot-outs in the slums, or favelas.
But Padilha wants them to see that something is wrong with the system, where underpaid officers must choose between becoming corrupt, neglectful or going to war.
"If you're an honest police officer in Rio de Janeiro, if you don't accept any crimes and you enter a slum, you will see heavily armed gangsters controlling that population. If you (police officer) want to serve the law, you will have to begin a war with those gangsters," explained the director.
Many Brazilians were quick to praise the police portrayed in the movie, despite a number of scenes showing torture practices in slum operations.
Padilha says such remarks are disturbing although many people he showed the film to, especially abroad, were horrified by the methods depicted.
Human rights groups have long criticized Rio police for their brutal tactics in confronting the drug gangs.
Padilha said police tried to stop filming in certain areas but the state government intervened. After that, his biggest problem was an attack by a gang in a slum.
Part of his crew was kidnapped, guns were stolen and costs soared once they had to interrupt the filming for nearly a month.
The director said he hopes the movie can encourage people to make changes in the system.
"What the movie does is build a story around the rules of the game we play. My hope is that people will watch this and say: 'Hell, we have to change these rules'," he said.
But the film's ending offers no hope. But Padilha says he is optimistic Brazil will change with time through education, more equality and changes in police, the judiciary and prison system.
Police kill about 1,000 suspects a year and often only enter the slums in military style raids in which innocent civilians are shot. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None