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Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais. In their native country of Brazil, this is their name. In North America, we would know them as a sort of Super Troopers, but not the ones who chug pancake syrup and pose the rhetorical question, “Littering and…?” Using specialized weapons and armored vehicles such as the Pacificador and Caveirão, they patrol the slums of their country.

The force has a fleet of armored vehicles, which are known as "Pacificador" (Peacemaker), or "Caveirão" (Big Skull). These vehicles are used in operations in slums (favelas) where BOPE faces intense conflicts with drug dealers. Given the violent, oftentimes fatal conflicts these law enforcement officials combat on a daily basis, finding potential candidates for such jobs is a difficult task. Based upon the novel Elite da Tropa, written by two former BOPE employees, this movie will tell the story of a man facing just such a task.

Capitão Nascimento is a commander of BOPE whose life has grown complicated by his wife’s pregnancy. Realizing the obscene fatality rate for members of his elite troops, Nascimento accepts that he has no choice but to retire from the profession else his child be raised without a father. Unwilling to turn his back on society’s need for incorruptible officers of the law, the man seeks to find a worthy successor to his position of authority. Upon encountering a pair of cadets named Matias and Neto, he realizes one of these two will be able to carry the mantle as head of his division…assuming all three men live that long while battling crime in one of the most violent places on Earth.

Some of the above may sound cliché to you until you consider that the events in the book as well as the cinematic adaptation are non-fiction. At the very least, the entire story is culled from real life events in Brazil. Even better, this is the non-documentary debut of José Padilha, who created the masterpiece, Bus 174, for which he earned a 2004 Director’s Guild nomination. And if he is not enough of a selling point on his own, the movie’s screenplay is written by Bráulio Mantovani, an Academy Award nominee for his work on 2003’s City of God. As you can see, the storyline may sound generic, but the talent involved makes this one of the most tantalizing indie films on the 2008 schedule. (David Mumpower/BOP)

Vital statistics for Elite Squad Main Cast Wagner Moura, Caio Junqueira, André Ramiro Director Jose Padilha Screenwriter Jose Padilha, Braulio Mantovani, Rodrigo Pimentel Distributor The Weinstein Company Screen Count 1 Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture