Tropa de Elite

Tropa de Elite is an amazingly good film; by turns brutally real, disturbing, and horrifyingly funny.
 
It claims to be based on a true story (which occurred around 1997) and I find that sadly believable. The main plot revolves around the captain of an elite police unit trying to find a replacement for himself.  At the same time he's also dealing with the imminent birth of his first child, the horrendous stress of his job, and a mission to clear out a dangerously violent slum so that the Pope can stay there overnight.

Then the movie takes a step back to look at the men who might replace Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura). The two are friends; one is firey and idealistic, the other logical and precise.  They are members of the ordinary police units, struggling to deal with a system that is so amazingly inept and awful that it's almost like something straight out of a nightmarish sci-fi dystopia.

The movie really is both disturbing and funny, in an extemely bleak way.  It's simply astonishing to see some of the things the police do to keep law and order, or just to get a few bucks to keep their equipment working.  From the way they run the motor pool to their uniquely stupid solution to keeping murder rates in their districts down... people should watch this to make sure this kind of thing never happens in their own country.  It's bureaucracy and corruption taken to the lowest (or highest?) level.  It's like Office Space meets hell.

Many people have disagreed with the the ideals of the various groups portrayed in Tropa de Elite.  I believe the point of the movie is to spark discussion rather than to further a specific agenda.  Some have accused the film of making the BOPE out to be heroic, but I don't think anyone comes out of Tropa de Elite looking particularly good.  BOPE may be trying to accomplish something good in a city gone mad, but their methods are slowly destroying their own officers, as the film documents with Nascimento's nervous breakdowns and internal conflicts.

Whatever you happen to think of the groups and ideals involved—and I give the film credit for portraying all of them with faults—I would be enormously surprised if this movie doesn't make you think and give you something to talk about.

This was my top pick of 2007. Highly recommended.