Wagner Moura's Breakout: The Underappreciated 'Elite Squad' Films

Long before his international visibility in Narcos and the awards attention for The Secret Agent in 2026, Wagner Moura first made a wide impression with José Padilha's 2007 crime action film Elite Squad. The movie won the Golden Bear the following year and helped refocus attention on Brazilian cinema after City of God, largely on the strength of Moura's portrayal of Captain Roberto Nascimento.

Elite Squad turns the usual favela story on its head by examining the police: how they operate and why. Under pressure to pacify favelas ahead of Pope John Paul II's visit to Rio, Nascimento chooses two outsiders — Neto Gouveia and André Mathias — to train as potential replacements, after both have seen corruption embedded at nearly every level of the state police.

The 2010 sequel, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, broadens the scope.

Brazil, Rio

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