Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (2010)

• Year: 2010
• Released: 08 Oct 2010
• Country: Brazil
• Adwords: 45 wins & 19 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1555149/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elite_squad_2_the_enemy_within
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Portuguese
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
• Runtime: 115 min
• Writer: Bráulio Mantovani, José Padilha, Rodrigo Pimentel
• Director: José Padilha
• Cast: Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro
• Keywords: police, duringcreditsstinger, drugs, torture, criminal,

	8.0/10
	71/100

Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within Storyline

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, the Secretary of Security and politicians interested in votes. Nascimento is manipulated to help this group, vanquishing the criminals in the slums and poor communities; then the corrupt group of police officers is free to exploit the poor population.

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Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within Movie Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Elite Squad 2

I was hoping that Elite Squad 2 would get a commercial screening in Singapore, but if not then it made a welcome appearance during this year’s SIFF, and while it can be watched as a standalone film, you’ll appreciate the challenges faced by the principal characters a lot more if you’ve watched the original, where BOPE leader Nascimento (Wagner Moura) and his squad got introduced with the primary plot revolving around his tough training of two up and coming protégés in the squad which had powers to eliminate enemies of the drug trade with deadly force. It became one of my favourite shows that year and of its genre, and I’m glad that the sequel went one up without repeating itself, tackling problems in Rio De Janeiro that are of a wider scale, exploring just how deep the rabbit hole of corruption in the city goes.

Starting with a cliffhanger where Nascimento, now Lt Colonel with added years to his age with a hint of grey at the sides of his head, got caught up between a rock and a hard place, we then journey some months back which writer-director Jose Padilha, returning for this film, outdid himself with tightly choreographed, intensely shot action sequences within a high security prison where inmates took over with force and are out to eradicate enemies within the prison where enclaves sprung up. You’ll notice that the shaky cam cinematography in its predecessor got toned down a lot in this follow up film, which is nice. From that botched attempt of now Captain Andre Matias (Andre Ramiro) disobeying orders from the top but with public sentiments on a high for the no-nonsense approach by the BOPE, Nascimento got moved out of the Skulls and into politics, becoming under-secretary of Intelligence in charge of all wire-tapping activities by the authorities, while Andre himself got moved back to becoming a lowly beat cop.

It’s a very major departure from the premise of the first film, if you’ve come with expectations that you’ll get to see action sequence after action sequence punctuated by violence, because this installment is a more cerebral take on the problems plaguing the city, and a more macro-level approach as well involving crooked politicians and their support system beneath them that fuels a very symbiotic relationship between the corrupt leaders and their underlings, moving away from drug cartels, to wider and ruthlessly effective organized crime involving what some say are the largest gangsters around, the police force, in far more lucrative illegal trade fueled by the slums they’re supposed to protect. And these problems go to show that if a system is corrupt it’ll take some humongous effort to clean it up, if one can find a foothold to begin from that is, which is what Elite Squad 2 is mostly about, the few and rare good men who are willing to step out and stand up to be counted, even though they’re battling on different fronts and may not share the same belief system.

Jose Padilha balanced political intrigue, crime and action without forgetting the emotional core that had also level-set the first film. Nascimento’s son is all grown up now but remains estranged from his dad because he cannot comprehend why Nascimento had to kill in his line of duty. And as if that’s not enough, his wife is now romantically linked with his professional nemesis Fraga (Irandir Santos), who with his non-government organization championing human rights, becomes the thorn in his side for frequently undermining BOPE’s tactics and strategy that you would have seen from the first film, and in a way something like how director Padilha seeks to address detractors of that film. Things also get patchy between mentor and mentee especially when Andre sees Nascimento being unable to reinstate his position back in BOFE, but others working through a network of connections are able to, which sort of brings forth a moral dilemma of being beholden to someone, especially when links to the mob comes into play.

Wagner Moura keeps up his charismatic performance as the one man tour de force with a riveting performance as a leader anyone will want to follow, with courage and sometimes obsessed conviction in being married to his job and taking it upon himself as the city’s saviour and scourge of the city’s criminals, even if they happen to be white collared and in positions of power. Granted you’ll miss watching him in action leading his men on raids as he becomes assigned to a desk job, but there’s no lack of intensity in his newly minted career path, seeing it as opportunity to resource load his old unit to do a lot more than he imagined, though indirectly responsible for slicing off the head of a hydra he had yet to fully understand.

While action sequences are limited, there is no lack of excitement and edge of your seat moments where everything kicks into high gear, best played out in a hall with a properly tuned sound system that puts you in the thick of all the action. One can only hope for a follow up film if there’s another strong story to be told given that loose ends still exist, the problems in the real world never actually going away and the system is one big monster that is constantly evolving and evading eradication, which will probably take generations to effect real change, but for action junkies and fans of police films, having Nascimento back for another film will indeed be a welcome treat. I can actually listen to an audio book narrated by Wagner Moura and not get bored at all, since it is his narration that fills in the blanks in this film and moves it forward. Highly recommended!

Good crime epic

Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is in charge of a bloody recapture of a High-Security Penitentiary in Rio de Janeiro. Human Right worker Diogo Fraga was visiting the prison at the time, and he blames Nascimento for the bloodshed. However Nascimento becomes more popular than ever, and he’s promoted. He eventually loses his wife to Fraga. His son hates him. As the gangs are driven out of the slums, the corrupt police takes over. They form militias which produces votes for corrupted politicians. Soon Nascimento is surrounded by his enemies in his own office.

This is a vast epic sprawling movie. That’s the source of its main problem. This would make a great TV serial. Instead of 2 hours, this story could use 10-20 hours. This reminded me a lot of ‘The Wire’. As a 2 hr movie, this needs to be boiled down to concentrate on Nascimento. This needs to be his story, not the epic story of corruption in Rio. I was also a little annoyed by the voice over narrations. With such a vast story, a narration to explain things was probably needed. The action is all there. The violence and the edgy story is well done. However the ambition is maybe too big for one movie.

The Masterminds of the Organized Crime in Rio

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 (Wagner Moura) and the second in command Captain André Matias (André Ramiro) are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga (Irandhir Santos) 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 (Sandro Rocha) and supported by the Governor, the Secretary of Security and politicians interested in votes. Nascimento is manipulated to help this group, vanquishing the criminals in the slums and poor communities; then the corrupt group of police officers is free to exploit the poor population.

“Tropa de Elite 2” is a fictional and hopeless story based on true events and characters of Rio de Janeiro and the greatest box office of Brazilian cinema ever. The director and writer José Padilha did not make a sequel of the successful “Tropa de Elite”, but used important characters to make a different and very realistic approach, scarier than the first one, about the masterminds of the organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. Further, he proves that is a courageous man, nudging the Powers that Be with this great film. The performances are impressive and sometimes this film seems to be a documentary. “Tropa de Elite 2” is certainly the best Brazilian film of 2010 but the Brazilian Commission has not selected this movie to dispute a nomination to the Oscar in the Best Foreign Language category. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): “Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora é Outro” (“Elite Squad 2: Now it is Another Enemy”)