Elite Squad | |
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Theatrical poster
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Directed by | José Padilha |
Produced by | José Padilha Marcos Prado |
Written by |
Bráulio Mantovani José Padilha Rodrigo Pimentel |
Based on |
Elite da Tropa by André Batista Luiz Eduardo Soares Rodrigo Pimentel |
Starring |
Wagner Moura Caio Junqueira André Ramiro |
Music by | Pedro Bromfman |
Cinematography | Lula Carvalho |
Edited by |
Daniel Rezende Chris Lebenzon |
Production
company |
Zazen Produções
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Distributed by |
Universal Pictures (Brazil) IFC Films (United States) |
Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
Country | Brazil |
Language | Portuguese |
Budget | R$11 million |
Box office | $14,067,078 |
Elite Squad (Portuguese: Tropa de Elite, pronounced: [ˈtɾɔpɐ dʒi eˈlitʃi] lit. "Elite Troop") is a 2007 Brazilian crime film directed by José Padilha. The film is a semi-fictional account of the Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police, analogous to the American SWAT teams. It is the second feature film and first fiction film of Padilha, who had previously directed the documentary Bus 174. The script was written by Bráulio Mantovani (City of God) and Padilha, based on the book Elite da Tropa by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two former BOPE captains, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel.
Elite Squad was an outstanding commercial success, and became a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its sequel, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, released in Brazil on October 8, 2010, holds industry records in the country for ticket sales and gross revenue.
Captain Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura), top member of BOPE, narrates the film, briefly explaining how the police and the drug lords of Rio de Janeiro cooperate with each other (policemen collect periodic bribes and drug lords are left free to operate) in the 1990s.