Reviews

Although this is a sequel to the 2008 Brazilian box office smash hit Tropa de Elite, that film isn’t essential viewing prior to seeing this one. Seeing this film as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, it was a cut above the already excellent assortment tossed onto our screens, and it’s rather a shame that Tropa didn’t receive a wider theatrical release for those who missed it’s brief outing.

The story picks up 14 years after the first film, where the protagonist Lt. Colonel Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is quickly shifted out of running a high profile, gang-only prison in Rio de Janeiro, to a more muted intelligence role recording phone conversations and wading through hours of material, most of it bearing little fruit. It's the kind of job where the powers higher up want one to step backstage and take a seat to the main action. Nascimento accepts the inevitable, but still tries to formulate a plan to cleanse the city he loves of crime, embarking on, and partially enacting, a widescale campaign to rid the suburbs of Rio from gangs and druglords. Things go according to plan for a while, until those entrusted with protecting the people extort the everyday street vendors or van drivers for the continued peace in the slum-like districts. While Nascimento wrestles with his son and family issues, on the job he faces not one but several major opponents, who, in politics, are equally as elusive as the next.

After his protégé/ friend is murdered by the corrupt officials holding the city hostage, Nascimento vows to bring the killers to justice while protecting his family from various hit squads. The fact that his wife has shacked up with a guy called Fraga, an activist and constant pain in Nascimento's ass, is a lively source of conflict, but deep down Fraga has similar ideals and also works for the common good.

With an R18 sticker, I can thoroughly recommend this to children at least ten years old; however, it's those people who have travelled or have an interest in Brazilian culture that will get the most out of it. Sure, there's a typical Rio BBQ with a journalist being roasted on an open fire, and a bloody swath of prison violence as gangs kept in separate sectors break into a free for all as they try to wipe each other out, but so what? It is the hard-hitting, teeth-clenching acting and violence from Nascimento that gives the film that stellar touch. His swift personal brand of justice is just perfect – in fact, the whole film is perfect. It's the kind of movie-making Hollywood wishes it could produce.

Wagner Moura's acting (an unknown before I saw this film) is that much of a pro. For this reason alone I plan to track down and view the film's predecessor and once done, pray for a sequel.

The only clincher is the subtitles. Over 90% of the film is subtitled, but it makes one engage with the film more, paying close attention to every tic and tack of the character, instead of looking at the guy facesucking his girlfriend in the front row. For those of you who can't read English or are new to the language, (most of the people in Erskine know what I'm talking about (if they could read this)), then this film is the reason you should learn.

Download immediately! (Legally... ahem.)

Written and directed by Jose Padilha