BLU-RAY
REVIEW:
ELITE SQUAD THE ENEMY WITHIN
2/12/12
The sprawling slum that surrounds Rio de Janeiro is one of the most dangerous places on earth. As the head of Rio’s Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE), Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura, Elite Squad) has seen his share of intense situations. When a BOPE mission to stop a jail riot ends in the violent death of a gang leader, Nascimento finds himself accused of a massacre…but the citizens of Rio, tired of the crime and drugs that plague their city, embrace him as a national
hero.
On the heels of a successful U.S. theatrical tour, New Video’s Flatiron Film Company will release director José Padilha’s (Elite Squad, Robocop) acclaimed action-thriller, ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN on Cable VOD, digital platforms, and on Blu-ray/DVD on February 14. Co-written by Padilha and Oscar® nominee Bráulio Mantovani (City of God), ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN is Brazil’s highest-grossing film in more than 30 years and the country’s official submission for Best Foreign Picture in the 2012 Academy Awards®. Certified 95% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the film received top critical reviews in the U.S. from Entertainment Weekly, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times and The Onion A.V. Club, among many
others.
Since we last saw Nascimento, in Padilha’s original Elite Squad, he has been promoted to Sub-Secretary of Intelligence. In his powerful new post, he strengthens BOPE and brings the drug gangs who rule Rio’s favelas to their knees–only to come to the sobering realization that, by doing so, he’s made things easier for the corrupt cops and dirty politicians who are truly running the game. After years in the trenches Nascimento now finds that his new enemies are much more dangerous and, even worse, sitting at desks just down the
hall.
Not as much a sequel as a reinvention, ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN centers around the same themes of Brazil’s urban violence and mismanaged state institutions – the prison system, reformatories for petty criminals, and police departments – that Padilha addresses in Elite Squad and also in his acclaimed 2002 documentary, Bus 174. Says the director: “In this film, I didn’t try to simply produce pure entertainment, but to approach a theme that is dear to me without turning away from the plot, taking the spectators’ eyes off the action, or pausing for reflection.”
VIDEO:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen 1080P
AUDIO:
Portuguese
5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio Dolby Digital
Subtitles - English
SPECIAL FEATURES:
45-minute-making-of-featurette
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