Elite Squad 2, The enemy within, Tropa de elite 2

Tropa de Elite 2, Elite Squad 2, 2011
Director: Jose Padilha
Cast: Wagner Moura, Irandhi Santos, Andre Ramiro





Stage: Kino Komuna, Liffe. A late afternoon, everything packed.


Tropa in short: After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor. However, due to the increasing popularity of Nascimento, the Governor invites him to team-up with the intelligence area of the Secretary of Security. Along the years, Fraga, who is married with Nascimento's former wife, is elected State Representative and Nascimento's son Rafael has issues with his biological father. Meanwhile Nascimento and the BOPE expel the drug dealers from several slums but another enemy arises: the militia led by Major Rocha and supported by the Governor..




Preps: Elite Squad 1 was one of the more preminent movies on the last Liffe. I am eager to see the second part, it should be an upgrade. Which makes it exceed the competition.



Reality: Well, the movie is filled with anger and action. With corruption and war per se between the locals and the military or police. Between the good and bad. Between bad and bad. Bad and worse. The prospects for people that live in this areas there is no perspective. Either you become a corrupted cop or someone they extort, or someone that fights them and deals heroin on streets. These people grew up on the streets not having a choice and not having any other perspective.

It's a movie filled with a feeling that it must be so and that it will be this way forever. And there's nothing you can do about it. Which made me very sad and pesimistic with the movie and the violence it was showing. Does it show any way out of this, any way to fight it? No. In this sense, it serves as a documentary so that even a person living on another side of the world can depict how it's like to live in a community like this. To people that live in a country like Slovenia something like this can be pretty unimaginable. Therefore I claim the movie has documentary value. Still, I would prefer to hold a position, where it also offers some sort of escape or a way out. Or a historical background. How did it come to be like this and how did all the people arrive on the level of nurturing violence? What does it take to trigger this violence and what does it take to end it? Violence for sure not.

In any case, the images from the cages are spectacular, it really gives me shivers to see this and in no imagination would I want to be there. And after seeing this, even Rio de Janeiro doesn't trigger the same interest to me. A lot of people on the world are posed to similar suffering. I guess this is a realistic South America image and we should all think about it. How to influence all of this? A movie without a call to action. Just closing the eyes won't make this dissappear, unfortunately. As said, I leave the cinema with a pesimistic and really depressive mood.



My personal rate: 7,0 (a true documentary. It will make your cells shiver with fear and disgust).


Elite Squad on IMDB

Fast Five, 2011

Fast Five, 2011
Director: Justin Lin
Cast: Vin Diesel,Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson



Stage: local theatre, late Saturday show. Crowdy and unnacceptable smell in the hall. Yuk.

Fast Five in Short: Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he's not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can't separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey... before someone else runs them down first.


Preps: Trying to see this for some time now. A friend drags me in the movies, she is a huge fan of the muscles and cars :) I follow, humbly, as I want to see this also. However, my expectations are low as it is the fifth sequel and I don't have any good experience in a long run with them. Lovely cars and beautiful women, combined with a race. Is there anything more?


Reality: Nope. Nothing more. However, a spectacular view of Rio de Janeiro, in its poverty, overload of small detached houses/barracs, people with guns, chasing and running on the roofs, making the daily bread by stealing and other criminal acts.. One guy that rules the world. The god in the convenient role of a godfather, who is being chased by the main protagonists in this action movie.

The story will not impress you. As said, beautiful women, stealing and racing with cars, a grand theft in verses of The Bank Job or Mission Impossible, or Ocean's eleven (in this sense, Vin Diesel can be as charming as Clooney). The plan, that is swept away by local police, the seeking of the love, the boobs and asses at the chase racing playground.

Can people really be so enthusiastic about the racing? I guess so. I know personally some addicts in this area. Which doesn't mean I understand it. The movie implies the adrenalin they get, comes from the mere fact of a race and competition, and rarely reflects the prize the one who wins, gets or owns. Do you bet your car? In this game, you do. Do you bet your woman? Also.. the sky is the limit. The piece will take you through the same path the former Fast and Furious did, although with a slight change of cast, music, place and cars. Apart from that, the story is clear and not demanding for the viewer. Like a race in Formula one. Easy to follow, even easier to fall asleep inbetween (because you don't miss much). The music, however, is very powerful in the Fast Five. Not a surprise, the movies with beautiful women and cars are normalwise surrounded/accompanied by great music. Not as hillarious and emotional like some Zimmerman pieces, but mean, harsh and powerful, the way it fits to the purpose.


My personal rate: 5,0 (somewhere in the middle. However, you need to be a fan of racing, or a Vin Diesel fan, or want to see beautiful women. Not a lot of intelligence put into this piece, but a strong scene and materialism put upfront)

Fast Five on IMDB