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Brazil: Watching Elite de Tropa, a Sino-Paraguayan Film Review

Seeded on Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:28 AM EDT
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None of the pyrotechnic, Globollywood ultraviolence in the film — which was actually extremely modest by Die Hard or 007 standards — is nearly as emotionally devastating as that climactic moment in which the camera just focuses wordlessly on the killer's naked face and refuses to turn away.

Stripped of its Globo-soap didacticism and its first-person shooter commercial tie-ins, Elite de Tropa is a Brazilian Full Metal Jacket.

There is the same sort of devastating and repulsive and pitiless and courageous emotional honesty about this film, at its best, as we find in the saga of Private Joker, "born to kill," in Kubrick's love letter to the Vietnam War.

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Leonardo Leiria Fernandes

The name of the movie is "Tropa de Elite"

    Reply#1 - Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:30 AM EDT
    pavilhao9

    I live in a rather small place in Brasil. We have these guys that push little carts with pirate dvds, and they had this film the day it was being released in the theaters.

      Reply#2 - Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:46 AM EDT
      Leonardo Leiria Fernandes

      Actually it has not been released in the theaters yet. Someone somehow had access to a copy before the release, which is in October 12th if I remember right. The movie is so nice that even who saw a pirate copy should go check it at the theater when it comes out. It would be interesting to see if the final version is different from the one that is being distributed. I heard it might be.

        #2.1 - Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:13 AM EDT
        pavilhao9

        I thought the release was last week!! Wow. It is par for the course though, I know that 300, Rocky Balboa, and Spiderman 3 were with the camelo's and the locadora by my house (I call it Blockbuster, but no one gets the joke) the same week the made the release in Brasil. BTW Leonardo, I gotta ask, Who killed Thais? ;)

        Valeu,
        P9

          #2.2 - Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:25 AM EDT
          Leonardo Leiria Fernandes

          Hey, I can only suppose Thais is from the current 9 o'clock soap opera, am I right? I live away from home, so I have not watched Globo TV for quite a while. Not that I used to watch soap operas when I was in Brazil anyway.

          Cheers bro!

            #2.3 - Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:31 PM EDT
            pavilhao9

            Yeah, Thais was from the novela that ended on Friday (Paraiso Tropical). Supposedly 90% of the TVs were tuned in to watch. I don't know where you live, but when I was still in the States, Globo Internacional was offered on my cable system, and it is offered on DishTV as well. You get most of the programing, Futebol on Wednesday and Sunday, the novelas, Jornal Nacional, etc.

            Look in to it if you are interested.

            Take care,
            P9

              #2.4 - Sun Sep 30, 2007 3:36 PM EDT
              Leonardo Leiria Fernandes

              I'm in Italy, and Globo is distributed alone (not in packages of other channels) and is more expensive than other offers with many channels :-(. I miss watching football though.

                #2.5 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 12:30 PM EDT
                Reply
                pavilhao9

                I got around to watching it this weekend. I have no idea if the version I saw is the same as the one in the theaters, like I mentioned earlier, it was one of the pirate versions all over town. It had "title" cards, before each part (the movie is broken up in to three or four parts) a pre story, a story, training, and continuation of the story. The training section is very much like the first part of "Full Metal Jacket", which interestingly enough is another movie that has two "distinct" parts, so I am sure that movie was an influence on the direction. Wagner Moura was excellent in it. I'd recommend it.

                Cheers,
                P9

                  Reply#3 - Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:09 AM EDT
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