Konterr Brilliant and touching

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Ian (Flash Review)This is a fairly typical film about power and corruption done properly and honestly in Rio de Janeiro. The head of the police force (I think) has to deal with a corrupt special unit who is pushing out and murdering drug gangs in order to profit from the citizens in many ways. Anyone to cross their path, bad or good better watch out. Once the protagonist learns what is happening he attempts to zero in and eradicate the immoral corruptors. Will he be successful or will he be another casualty in their bloodbath? The film is gritty and has many characters to sort out. This being a foreign film, I felt I was constantly reading subtitles and wasn't able to watch enough of the action as even when the characters weren't talking there was narration. Not a problem, just the way it is. Good acting, editing, pacing and it was good dialog so I was engaged throughout. Solid and bloody.

tadegeare The movie Elite Squad was a very captivating movie with a ton of corruption and action. There were a lot of interesting twists and turns that kept me very interested. It had a strong American type of movie vibe to it. I think it was a very interesting representation of the police force in Brazil and showed the true possibility of corruptness within a government or a police force. It was also interesting to compare it to the other foreign films that I have seen in my Global Perspectives class in the aspect that there was actually wealth. There were both sides of the spectrum instead of just the poor side of the equation. I think that was what was making seem very American to me. But the plot itself was very intriguing and the twists along the way kept the movie alive and surprising which I really liked. I would definitely recommend it and overall was a very great movie.

SnoopyStyle Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is in charge of a bloody recapture of a High-Security Penitentiary in Rio de Janeiro. Human Right worker Diogo Fraga was visiting the prison at the time, and he blames Nascimento for the bloodshed. However Nascimento becomes more popular than ever, and he's promoted. He eventually loses his wife to Fraga. His son hates him. As the gangs are driven out of the slums, the corrupt police takes over. They form militias which produces votes for corrupted politicians. Soon Nascimento is surrounded by his enemies in his own office.This is a vast epic sprawling movie. That's the source of its main problem. This would make a great TV serial. Instead of 2 hours, this story could use 10-20 hours. This reminded me a lot of 'The Wire'. As a 2 hr movie, this needs to be boiled down to concentrate on Nascimento. This needs to be his story, not the epic story of corruption in Rio. I was also a little annoyed by the voice over narrations. With such a vast story, a narration to explain things was probably needed. The action is all there. The violence and the edgy story is well done. However the ambition is maybe too big for one movie.

sarnela The movie is brilliant - the people before me have said it. Then why am I writing about it? There are few films telling something important. Brazil has made one.It makes you think - an action that lots of us tend to forget... It thrills you, it makes you cry, it makes you angry. It makes you willing to do something.Don't be surprised if you feel that it filled an empty space in you.There is still a strangling feeling 1 hour after the end of the movie... Because I saw a life so common to what we have here in Eastern Europe. And I realized how close to each other we really are. The truth is common.So, prepare for a hard and impacting movie.