cult films

1997, captain nascimento has to find a substitute for his occupation while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the pope comes to rio de janeiro, brazil. 

dir.: jose padilha
crime / drama / thriller
2007

wagner moura as capitão nascimento
andré ramiro as andré matias
caio junqueira as neto

some facts:

- during the shooting of the film, a van with 90 firearms (30 real and 60 prop guns) was robbed in the hill of chapéu mangueira. teams from the local police stormed the favela pavão-pavãozinho, in copacabana, to recover the guns, but the operation was only partially successful.

- this film was already a best-seller almost 3 months before its official release. illegal copies of what the director called the “3rd cut” flooded the streets of all major capitals in brazil, for the equivalent of five dollars a piece. criminal investigation revealed that the original dvd was robbed in the company drei marc, which does the subtitles. according to estimates at least 3 million people watched the bootleg version, which is 6 hundred thousand more than it managed during its theatrical run. however, it was the most seen brazilian film that year in brazilian theaters. 

- the final version was slightly different from the pirated one. one scene was added and the narration was altered. but the director never stated that it was motivated by the piracy issues. 

- the university where part of the film was shot is puc, located at the pleasant neighborhood of gávea, at rio de janeiro, a very traditional elite school and considered the best private university in brazil, and one of the best educational institutions in south america. this is where andré batista, one of the film’s screenwriters, attended law school. he was a member of bope and was the inspiration for the character of andré matias, a honest man who finds himself torn between his life as a bope member and his life long dreams of being a lawyer.

+: imdb (tropa de elite, aka elite squad)