Day: February 1, 2011

LFM Sundance Review: Elite Squad 2

By Joe Bendel. Watch out for those left wing academics. They will steal your wife and poison your son against you. At least that’s what happened to Colonel Nascimento, the leader of Rio’s SWAT team equivalent: the Special Police Operation Battalion, or BOPE in the Portuguese acronym. However, Nascimento still finds himself working with his nemesis to bring down a crypto-fascist criminal empire run by crooked cops and politicians in José Padilha’s Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (trailer above), which screened during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Diogo Fraga is the Brazilian Al Sharpton. Whenever the inmates riot (which is often), they send for him to act as a “mediator.” However, when the latest standoff gets tense, Fraga starts to look like a legit hostage. When Nascimento’s protgege Matias sees his shot, he takes his shot, as per his training. Unfortunately, the resulting blood-splatter all over Fraga’s peace t-shirt is too rich not to exploit in the media, even if was meant to save his behind. As the officer in charge, Nascimento bears the brunt of Fraga’s protests, but the fearful public is completely behind him. Left with only one recourse, the politicians kick him upstairs to some sort of homeland security position.

Suddenly, Nascimento is setting criminal justice policy on a state level. He gives BOPE the resources they always needed and turns them loose on the cartels. Actually, it works too well, leaving a vacuum to be filled by “The System,” a ruthless syndicate run by crooked cops and hypocritical “law & order” politicians.

Evidently, Padilha was stung by the criticism of Elite 1 as an endorsement shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later vigilantism, considering how far he swings the pendulum over in Elite 2. Now the credo is depose-first-and-ask-follow-up-questions-later-in-committee-hearings.

At least Wagner Moura is still the ever-popular Nascimento, who looks like a non-descript everyman, but is seriously hard-nosed. His no-nonsense presence helps redeem Elite 2 from its constant attempts at redemption through sociopolitical relevancy. In a standout supporting turn, André Ramiro brings a scary intensity to the tightly wound Matias. Brazilian music lovers should also keep an eye out for superstar vocalist Seu Jorge, appearing early in the film as powerful drug kingpin.

There are some tightly executed action sequences in Elite 2, but the film is ultimately undone by its didactic political subplots. After all, one doubts many favela residents would identify over-zealous policing as the greatest problem they face. While not without its moments, Elite 2 strays too far from its roots – which ironically, probably makes it more attractive to American distributors, following its high profile screenings in the Spotlight section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Posted on February 1st, 2011 at 9:43am.

LFM Sundance Review: Beats, Rhymes & Life

By Joe Bendel. If not necessarily the road not taken, A Tribe Called Quest definitely represents a road less traveled for hip-hop. Influenced by jazz and African musical forms whilst largely eschewing the nihilism of gangster rap in favor of a more spiritual message, ATCQ achieved a level critical acclaim unusual for hip-hop, yet still maintained their grassroots popularity. Alas, it would not last forever. Indeed, Michael Rapaport records the band’s break-up in his up-close-and-personal documentary, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Despite sitting for many interviews and allowing backstage access to Rapaport’s crew, the very vocal Q-Tip has reportedly since turned against the project. It’s hard to understand why, though. As backstage conflict goes, ATCQ’s is pretty tame stuff. Indeed, there’s nothing Charlie Sheen-worthy to be witnessed in the film. As seen through Rapaport’s cameras, their break-up appears to be largely attributable to the stress of Phife Dog’s health issues and the inevitable resentments bred by a long period of familiarity. Frankly, as behind-the-music profiles go, BRL makes ATCQ look pretty together.

A Tribe Called Quest.

After beginning at the apparent end, Rapaport rewinds to the beginning, giving a brisk overview of the band’s history. Signed for what was then an unprecedented advance, ATCQ was under pressure to deliver from the start, but that was not a problem. The early years were glory years, both in terms of music and sales. Perhaps the group reached its artistic high-water mark when collaborating with De La Soul in the egoless super-group Native Tongue.

Throughout their tenure, ATCQ had a rep as a musician’s hip-hop group. Not surprisingly, the best moments of BRL capture a sense of the group’s grounding in jazz and soul. A committed crate-digger, Q-Tip in particular emerges as an authority on vintage soul jazz LPs, like (Dr.) Lonnie Smith’s Drive, which he famously sampled and discusses at length in the film.

While opinion amongst ATCQ seems decidedly mixed, BRL will hardly damage their legacy. It will rather more likely strengthen their reputation as the thinking man’s hip-hop group. Though a snip here or there would not have been the end of the world, the animated sequences created by James Blagden & Phillip Niemeyer and the original incidental soundtrack by Madlib tie it all together in a solid, often entertaining package. Given the band’s continuing popularity as well as Rapaport’s name recognition as an actor, it seems like a good bet there will be considerable demand for BRL following its recent Sundance premiere. Well put together and only occasionally voyeuristic, BRL was a hit at Sundance, which concluded Sunday (1/30) with special screenings of this year’s award winners.

Posted on February 1st, 2011 at 9:16am.