Brazil movie about police is hit even before debut

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Even before its release, a new movie about a police war against Brazil's criminal gangs has become an underground hit and caused controversy, including a police effort to block its screening.

"Tropa de Elite" ("Elite Squad"), by Brazilian director Jose Padilha, will premiere at this week's Rio Film Festival. It is the latest in a string of acclaimed homegrown movies showing Brazil's ugly side that includes the Oscar-nominated 2002 "City of God" about gangs in a Rio slum.

"Tropa de Elite" is a fictional look at police work in Rio.

Two honest cops leave the underpaid, poorly equipped and corrupt general police force to join the BOPE (Special Operations Battalion), whose officers are depicted as incorruptible and highly trained but who torture suspects for information and then shoot them.

The film is already a hit in Brazil after a copy was stolen during post-production and pirated. It is also a hot discussion topic on the Internet.

A group of officers tried unsuccessfully to block the premiere, saying the film denigrated the police. But it also lambastes social groups who work in the slums, the upper classes for financing crime with their drug habits and society at large for allowing a huge gap between the rich and the poor.

"My hope is that people will watch this and say, 'Hell, we have to change these rules.' We hope to generate a debate," Padilha told Reuters before the premiere.

Padilha gets upset when people view the movie as praise for Rio's special forces police in their war against criminals. Torture and summary execution are not on his list of things that defenders of law and order should do.

He says it is understandable many Brazilians, tired of violent crime and government inertia, hail as heroes the cops who kill drug traffickers in shoot-outs in the slums, or favelas.

But Padilha wants them to see that something is wrong with the system, where underpaid officers "must choose between becoming corrupt, neglectful or going to war."

'NO WINNERS'

The movie has struck a chord with Brazilians as evidenced by comments posted on the forum of the popular Public Security Blog: "Elite Squad is the pride of our cinema and a homage to the honest cops of Brazil," reader Sueli Sales wrote.

Another poster who identified himself as Allan said: "This is the police we want against the criminal gangs!"

Padilha says such remarks are disturbing although many people he showed the film to, especially abroad, were horrified by the methods depicted.

"Torture is bad," said Padilha, a documentary maker who based his film on interviews with real police officers.

Human rights groups have long criticized Rio police for their brutal tactics in confronting the drug gangs. Police kill about 1,000 suspects a year and often only enter the slums in military style raids in which innocent civilians are shot.

Padilha said police tried to stop filming in certain areas but the state government intervened. After that, his biggest problem was an attack by a gang in a slum.

"We had part of the crew kidnapped, guns stolen, police raiding the slum, that almost killed the film and our costs soared."

But filming in the favelas, including some controlled by drug gangs, was still a thrilling experience. "There was interaction with the locals. Sometimes traffickers would show up and give us advice, like, 'You don't burn bodies like that.'"

The film's ending offers no hope. But Padilha says he is optimistic Brazil will change with time through education, more equality and changes in police, the judiciary and prison system.

"The film shows that the game has no winners when played under the current rules," he said.