Alemão

Alemão is another Brazilian movie about the war between the police and drug dealers, who control some of the slums of Rio de Janeiro. This movie happens during a joint operation of the police and army to take control and pacify the Complexo do Alemão, which is big area with a lot of slums. The film focus in five cops who are hiding in the Alemão and they have information to help the operation which is about happen.

During the movie, there's a lot scenes which aren't very well explained, there are a lot of holes in the story and coincidences that just in movies would happen. Due to it, the characters are not well constructed and making the audience care less about them.

It's much more a psychological film than an action movie, surely there are shootout scenes but it's a lot more focused in showing the fear and hopelessness of the cops who are being wanted by the drug dealers. An interesting aspect is showing the fear of the drug dealers due to the coming operation which the purpose is to remove the control of the slums from them. The attempt of showing the cruelty and terror inflicted in the residents of the slums by the bandits who rule there and by the police, showing that no matter which side is ruling the area, the people always suffer, is another positive quality of the film.

In 2007, the Rio de Janeiro government is preparing an operation with the police and army to invade the Complexo do Alemão, one of the largest and more dangerous slums of the South America, as part of the UPP Program of the State to retrieve slums controlled by drug dealers.

The delivery boy Pixixo (Izak Dahora) is bringing classified documents with the identity of the undercover agents that are working in Alemão to deliver to the Chief of Police Valadares (Antônio Fagundes), but he is stopped in a checkpoint of the drug dealers. Pixixo flees, but the criminals that take his mail. Soon the criminals under the command of the drug lord Playboy (Cauã Reymond) jam the cellular and the internet to hunt down the undercover agents Samuel (Caio Blat), Danilo (Gabriel Braga Nunes), Carlinhos (Marcello Melo Jr.) and Branco (Milhem Cortaz) that hide in their base in the pizzeria of the also undercover agent Doca (Otávio Muller). Without means of communication, there is tension and suspicion among the five men that are trapped inside the pizzeria. The situation gets more complicated when the cleaning woman Mariana (Mariana Nunes) comes to the pizzeria to receive her payment. Will the police agents succeed to escape?

"Alemão" is a Brazilian docudrama about the true event, the invasion of the Complexo do Alemão on 28 November 2010 in one of the biggest operation ever carried out in Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately the story is corny and the agents responsible for the fictional operation are clumsy. There is practically no action in "Alemão", which is actually a psychological drama, and the film is limited to two or three locations. Most of the time, the plot is in a claustrophobic environment inside a pizzeria, instead of showing how the operation was carried out and how the police officers and soldiers are heroes. The performances are top-notch, but the characters are too stupid, hitting each other and provoking a mess and exposing their hideout, aware that the invasion would happen in a short time. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Alemão"

It is easy to miss some good Brazilian films like this one. Although not perfect, Alemão (2014) clearly shows the Brazilian film industry evolved to deliver some good content.

I find it weird this film mentions the events of 2007 as the precursor of the pacifying police units (UPP). As far as I'm aware, a major operation in 2010 was the precursor of UPPs. But, well...

In this film, the Rio police are set to enter the Complexo do Alemão favela. This event sets the drug gang that controls the area in motion to defend themselves. Meanwhile, 5 policemen deeply undercover in the favela need to hide from the drug gang because their disguise dropped.

Even though this film is not Brazilian's cinematography at its prime (see Troupe d'élite (2007) and O Auto da Compadecida (2000), for example), this film is well above the Brazilian average. It goes light with nudity, which is a common theme in Brazilian films, and the language is natural and strong, as expected.

The drama is good, enjoyable, and believable. The acting is great at showing the despair and worries everyone has to deal with.

Cauã Reymond is questionable, though. He is great in this film, but I guess he is just a huge name to bias people to see this film other than having a relevant role. He is the favela's drug gang leader, but he mostly does nothing.

The plot is OK, and you get hooked up to see what will happen with our main characters, but the film's length made me feel like this film drags. This feeling happens especially because most of the time nothing is really is happening other than some people hunting the policemen and the policemen hiding. After one and a half-hour, I was skipping some slow scenes to get to the ending.

I'd recommend this to anyone. Maybe it could be better with less screen time, or with more violence, or maybe with more action. I don't know. But this film is definitely enjoyable.

I like this series. Gritty, realistic, gripping.intercut with news footage, it has a documentary feel to it and the plot still has me guessing.

Depicting police as heroes. Treats a very profound social and economic problem as a simple matter of battle betwen good and evil.................................