Elite Squad

In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.

Critics outside Brazil were largely cold on Elite Squad at release, finding the violence excessive and the film's moral compass muddled — yet audiences embraced it strongly, and its reputation has grown over time. The tension between its brutal procedural energy and its uncertain political stance was the central sticking point: some saw a raw, uncompromising portrait of Rio's police state, while others felt the film glorified what it pretended to critique. Winning the Golden Bear at Berlin only deepened the gap between critical and popular verdicts.