Elite Squad!!
Even though I'm in Japan, I try to keep myself updated about what's happening in Brazil too. And I've received news about a Brazilian movie called "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad).
Part of the news were about the film being pirated and available on the internet or at "camelos" way before the official release date.
Other was the response to the movie. It has been a while since a Brazilian movie had such an appeal to the general public. Or at least that's what it seems...
It also generated lots of discussion and controversy. From the Wikipedia article:
"When the film was first leaked, it caused a major controversy for its portrayal of Capitão Nascimento's unpunished police brutality in favelas. At its premier in Rio de Janeiro, the audience cheered Capitão Nascimento in such scenes. Arnaldo Bloch, in an article of O Globo, called the film 'fascist' for justifying the actions of a killer cop and making the audience believe that his behavior should be acceptable. Padilha responded saying that the film is seen through Capitão Nascimento's point of view, but does not justify it. Michel Misse, a researcher for Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, in an interview to Carta Capital, tried to explain why Capitão Nascimento is cheered: 'as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for punishment, some may think civil rights leads to unpunishment. And then, they want illegal solutions. That's why Capitão Nascimento is called'."
My opinion is that Misse is right. Numbers show that a good part of the population approve Cpt. Nascimento's methods, and it may be because they don't have any hope of seeing any solution for problems like drug traffic and urban violence through the "conventional channels". Higher percentages of people in Rio seem to approve his methods. Perhaps because they're closer to that "reality"...
Interesting is how Cpt. Nascimento is being "worshipped" for some; more a less the same way as Chuck Norris at the "Chuck Norris Facts" website. Guess a legend was born...
There are also two other points about the movie. One regards the responsibility of those whose recreational drug use results in the financing of illegal activities. Those users usually belong to middle or high social classes. So, ironically, they finance crime while complaining about public security and urban violence. What goes around comes around, perhaps? But in this case others also pay the price. For example police officers are killed every year by drug dealers and many poor children also end up in the dealers' ranks, finding an early death.
Drug dealers exist because there are people interested in the "product". Market. But users are usually seen as victims rather than part of the problem. Just put more pressure on users won't solve the problem, though.
The second point I'll condense in a quote from Cpt. Nascimento. It illustrates well why so many things doesn't work (not only in Brazil):
"The police depends on the system and the system doesn't work to solve problems of society. The system works to solve the system's problems."
And not only the police... It's some sort of way of saying that the system no longer worries about the society, instead it cares only about itself. Excessive bureaucracy is probably the most visible sign of that.
Here's a "trailer" I found with English subtitles (not official). Even though there are some grammar errors it's probably enough for a preview... As a last comment, I wonder how they'll put subtitles. Many words are street language, very hard to translate.
Part of the news were about the film being pirated and available on the internet or at "camelos" way before the official release date.
Other was the response to the movie. It has been a while since a Brazilian movie had such an appeal to the general public. Or at least that's what it seems...
It also generated lots of discussion and controversy. From the Wikipedia article:
"When the film was first leaked, it caused a major controversy for its portrayal of Capitão Nascimento's unpunished police brutality in favelas. At its premier in Rio de Janeiro, the audience cheered Capitão Nascimento in such scenes. Arnaldo Bloch, in an article of O Globo, called the film 'fascist' for justifying the actions of a killer cop and making the audience believe that his behavior should be acceptable. Padilha responded saying that the film is seen through Capitão Nascimento's point of view, but does not justify it. Michel Misse, a researcher for Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, in an interview to Carta Capital, tried to explain why Capitão Nascimento is cheered: 'as the judiciary system cannot keep up with the demand for punishment, some may think civil rights leads to unpunishment. And then, they want illegal solutions. That's why Capitão Nascimento is called'."
My opinion is that Misse is right. Numbers show that a good part of the population approve Cpt. Nascimento's methods, and it may be because they don't have any hope of seeing any solution for problems like drug traffic and urban violence through the "conventional channels". Higher percentages of people in Rio seem to approve his methods. Perhaps because they're closer to that "reality"...
Interesting is how Cpt. Nascimento is being "worshipped" for some; more a less the same way as Chuck Norris at the "Chuck Norris Facts" website. Guess a legend was born...
There are also two other points about the movie. One regards the responsibility of those whose recreational drug use results in the financing of illegal activities. Those users usually belong to middle or high social classes. So, ironically, they finance crime while complaining about public security and urban violence. What goes around comes around, perhaps? But in this case others also pay the price. For example police officers are killed every year by drug dealers and many poor children also end up in the dealers' ranks, finding an early death.
Drug dealers exist because there are people interested in the "product". Market. But users are usually seen as victims rather than part of the problem. Just put more pressure on users won't solve the problem, though.
The second point I'll condense in a quote from Cpt. Nascimento. It illustrates well why so many things doesn't work (not only in Brazil):
"The police depends on the system and the system doesn't work to solve problems of society. The system works to solve the system's problems."
And not only the police... It's some sort of way of saying that the system no longer worries about the society, instead it cares only about itself. Excessive bureaucracy is probably the most visible sign of that.
Here's a "trailer" I found with English subtitles (not official). Even though there are some grammar errors it's probably enough for a preview... As a last comment, I wonder how they'll put subtitles. Many words are street language, very hard to translate.
1 comment:
eh! capitao nascimento! pede pra sair 02! haha
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