+

Year of release:2010
Director: José Padilha
Writers: Bráulio Mantovani, José Padilha (story & screenplay), Rodrigo Pimentel (story)
Starring: Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, etc.

For more information on “Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora é Outro (EN: Elite Squad: The Enemy Within)”, visit Wikipedia and/or IMDb

 

General impression:
My jaw fell a bit, despite seeing the 2007 prequel, “Tropa de Elite” (EN:”The Elite Squad”), and being familiar with the characters and the story. The 2010 movie manages to present the same ideas from the first movie, at a bigger scale. It captures the moment when, after years of dedicated service and painful losses, Lt. Colonel Nascimento realizes his life was sacrificed, without his knowledge or consent, for other people’s agendas. At a deep level, this movie is about two major things: 1. Disposable pawns with the best intentions and the most sincere belief that they are doing the right thing; 2. Opposing parties that, in fact, have the same aspirations and beliefs, but are twisted into thinking they stand for different values, just because they’re on different sides of the battlefront.

Highlights:
It works both as crime drama and/or as food for thought.

Downside:
Lots of anger, violence, blood – non-gratuitous, but still unpleasant.

Would I see it again? – Not soon, but yes, I would.

My Rating (1 to 10): 9

Recommended: Yes

Suggestion:
It helps to see “Tropa de Elite” (EN: “Elite Squad”) first.