Coming off of its win at the Berlinale in February, hit Brazilian action-drama Tropa De Elite (Elite Squad) is gearing up for its release around the globe and new materials are starting to turn up. A hugely controversial film in its native country, Tropa tells the story of corrupt police squads in Brazil's poor slums and a new extended clip has turned up online. IT's raw, powerful stuff and you'll find it in the Twitch Player below the break.
I saw the workprint some weeks ago. Interesting, but not without flaws.
Man.. This film was a colossal let down when seeing it at SIFF recently! I'm sure the hype surrounding it had a lot to do with my expectations, but the film really is being labeled and marketed falsely.
It's not gritty or hyper-realistic enough to be powerful and doesn't have an inkling of heart or enough emotion to be really that moving (as compared to the often referenced yet very dissimilar City of God). It really is not much more than a big, mainstream action film (rap-metal and all!)... Which is totally fine, as long as you're expecting this.
If anyone needs English subtitles for the Brazilian DVD, I made some:
http://www.sirenita.com/?paged=2