[ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN screens Thursday January 26th at 8:35 pm and Friday January 27th at 7:15 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
When it was released in 2010, ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN (Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora é Outro) quickly became the highest grossing native-made film in Brazil's history. With its populist politics and thrilling action sequences, its not hard to see why the film would resonate with audiences in a country where the poverty, crime, and political corruption this film rails against are all too common.
ES:TEW is narrated by Roberto Nascimento (Walter Maura), leader of the BPOE or “Skulls”, a special military police unit known for the particularly harsh way they deal with drug cartels and other criminals that Nascimento invariably refers to as “scumbags”. Nascimento's rival in more ways than one is liberal crusader Diego Fraga (Irandhir Santos). Fraga deplores Nascimento's tactics, labeling the officer a fascist. This wouldn't bother Nascimento nearly as much if Diego weren't married to his ex-wife Rosane (Maria Ribeiro) and turning his son against him.
