Berlinale Diary 3: Harvey's Right-Wing Victory

I was at a film last night (the excellent documentary Gegenschuss) with Jurgen Fauth and D-Kaz when the Bears were handed out. Racing to a net cafe afterwards to learn who won, a stunned silence filled the room as the three of us could only stare blankly at each other when we learned that José Padilha's Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) had walked away with the Golden Bear. Easily the worst film in competition, this ultra right-wing (bordering on fascist) Police actioner set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro had nothing going for it, except for its pushy American distributor, Harvey Weinstein.  It wasn't long after the awards last night that SMS messages were flying fast and furious about how Weinstein had somehow bought the award. Perhaps that's something we all needed to believe, for how else were we to process that a critically panned film could walk away with top honors, especially when it was up against such lauded works as There Will Be Blood or Happy-Go-Lucky? Having had a night to sleep on it, I find myself just as puzzled as to how it could have happened, especially under the watch of jury president Costa Gavras, a director famous for several left-leaning political dramas. Elite Squad, which advocates torture and killing by BOPE (Brazil's Special Police Operations Batallion) makes a hero of and seeks sympathy for its protagonist, Captain Nascimento, a tough-as-nails but incorruptible cop who is looking to retire, but not until he can find a replacement who has no qualms about torturing and killing just about anybody. This is a repugnant, ugly film that blames pot smoking university students for all of Brazil's woes. Yet even if we put its politics aside, the film isn't even interesting as a simple action thriller. Sloppy camera work, chaotic editing, and a simplistic screenplay that relies heavily on expository voice-over. How and why it wound up in competition in Berlin is a mystery. The jury was shy two members this year as Sandrine Bonnaire and director Susanne Bier dropped out at the last minute, and one can't help but wonder if the film still would have won had they been on the jury. Did Harvey in any way influence this win? We'll never know for sure, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe this was the result of an honest vote.

Comments

[Steve Norwood]

Are you saying there was no other Weinstein-backed film in competition? Hard to believe if they were going to "buy" an honor, it wouldn't be for a better film.

[Filmbrain]

Other than There Will Be Blood and the Errol Morris doc, no other film in competition (I believe) has US distribution.

Weinstein bought the film based on the screenplay alone, which was then heavily modified by the director and co-screenwriter. Not sure how he feels about that. The more I think about it, the more I´m convinced some sort of shenanigans were afoot. Was the jury deadlocked, and gave it to this as a compromise? I've not seen any statements from the jury about their decision.

[gasparito]

You dont know nothing about films and nothing about Rio de Janeiro.

[Steve]

Have you seen Jose Padilha's excellent documentary, BUS 174? It's quite sympathetic to Brazil's urban poor, and I'm surprised that few critics who've panned THE ELITE SQUAD have brought up the seeming contradiction between the two films. A few defenders of THE ELITE SQUAD have suggested that it's simply presenting fascist behavior and leaving it up to the audience to decide what to make of it. Are they full of shit?

[Filmbrain]

Steve - I did see, and thoroughly enjoyed, BUS 174. As for the defenders of ELITE SQUAD, it's not a question of them being full of shit, it's just a matter of interpretation. However, there's no escaping the fact that one of the screenwriters, an ex-BOPE officer, stated that the film was intended to be pro-BOPE.

Comments like the one Gaparito left above (and much nastier) are all over Jay Weissberg's review in Variety. (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936168.html?categoryid=31&cs=1) Given that other non-Brazilian critics have a similar reaction, perhaps the film simply doesn't translate all that well.

As I stated in my post, even if we discard the politcs, it just isn't that good a film, on any level. I think this is going to hurt the Berlinale's credibility.

[Rahat]

The overwhelmingly angry responses on the Variety site are startling. Ironically, this puts me in a spot where I feel like this is a must-see film, if only so I can make up my own mind. There seems to be a definite disconnect between those Brazilians who have so angrily been responding back to the fascism comments and what you and Jay Weissberg saw.

[rod]

Hey guys,

I'm Brazilian and I saw this movie a few weeks ago. Though I disagree with these comments about the suggestion this movie promotes fascism, I'm gonna agree with filmbrain: it's not a good movie, not only from the technical point of view (mediocre camera work, over-realistic photography, over-use of narration, etc), but also in terms of script, which in my opinion, fails to accomplish the director's intention to make the audience question the police methods.

I think "Training Day" addresses the issue in a more intelligent way: it puts the audience into Jake's position and ... forces you to ask yourself if you'd be able to resist to the temptation of easy and dirty money. A more effective approach in my opinion.

I also agree on the possibility of this hurting the festival's credibility.

Anyways ... nice blog. Will keep following your posts.

[D.]

Well, I AM brazilian and, even if I decided against watching it, I must say it is not out of our perspective that the movie has this facistic sideline going. That aspect has been brought up time and again by the brazilian media, causing this split perception of the movie. People were either captivated by a talented actor (Captain Nascimento) or disgusted by the movies political views. Brazilian audiences, as a large, fell in love with the main character. (Yeah, there are action figures of that character for kids to play Elite´s Squad.... Lovely, isn´t it?)

I believe the movie does translate well, yes. Only there is a speech along those lines that is ever so present in our daily lives that the general public recognized it, identified with it and, as result, idolized the ill-fated character.

When the glamourizing of torture came up, the director used to respond that "capitain nascimento would never be perceived as a hero in europe, as he is being perceived as the "good guy", here."

Only he consistently failed to explain how could he be oh so sympathetic towards the bad guys...

Other than that, I believe anyone should agree that the movie has no merits and it was a major fuck-up to award it. Still, Bus 174 is well worth watching.

[Ekkehard Knörer]

What makes this film - which is no masterpiece and there certainly is more to praise in every single minute of Hong Sangsoo's "Night and Day" than in the whole of "Elite Squad" - fascinating to me is exactly (and almost, I must say, only) the first person perspective of its proto-fascist hero. It is very clear (in places, not least: the ending) that the film does not subscribe to his positions, but it still makes you (made me) fight against them throughout. This struggle for a position of your own in the face of the fascist position presented made for a very engaging experience in my case. And I want to add that the quasi-documentary style is very consistent in and of itself and also with the movie's aims. "Elite Squad" is, against first appearances, a frenetic kind of conceptual filmmaking. It succeeds in what it wants to do - namely: unsettle the audience in illuminating ways. Does it offer a solution? No. But it makes it very clear that and why there is no easy solution.

[Steve Norwood]

Ahh, and there you have it. With just the right amount of reactive press coverage, an allegedly awful film will get all the viewers it needs to become notable in some small way. I remember the controversy surrounding The Brown Bunny made me really want to see the film, not so much to see the Sevigny blow-job, but to see if the long, ponderous scenes of "nothing happening" were as interminable as I'd read. I had hoped instead to find something enlightening...but it was just a poorly-made film. Eight bucks and months of anticipation vaporized.

[Filmbrain]

Ekkehard --

There was another Brazilian film I saw at the Berlinale this year, Maré, nossa historia de amor (Another Love Story) which is a Romeo & Juliet story set in the favelas. (It's also a musical.) It too dealt with the problems of drugs and violence, as well as corrupt police, yet it didn't feel in any way exploitative, which Tropa de Elite does.

I'm not convinced it was the director's intention for us to question the methods BOPE employs. Whether that's a failure on my part or his is open to discussion, but as mentioned above, one of the screenwriters is on record saying the film is meant to be pro-BOPE.

[Campaspe]

Can't wait to see what certain right-wing sites make of this movie, since it sounds like a brief for the sort of tactics they love.

How does it compare to "Dirty Harry"? because it sounds remarkably similar, judging by your write-up and Variety's.

[tully]

i finally saw this yesterday. i don't know. i found it to be a pretty brutal exposition of the horrifically rampant corruption that is plaguing Rio on every single level. i guess by focusing on this BOPE officer--and especially taking into account the fiery, compelling lead performance (reminded me of Eric Bana in CHOPPER, for some reason)--one could read the film as a glamorization. but i didn't feel that way. i certainly didn't think it was a great movie--too much "movie" in it to be great--but it effectively disgusted me. Rio is FUCKED. i think that's what he was trying to say. he wasn't trying to outright to condemn or defend the police, but merely expose the situation cinematically and spark a conversation.