Sunday February 17, 2008

Brazilian movie 'The Elite Squad' wins Berlin film festival's top award

BERLIN (AP) - A movie about police violence in Rio de Janeiro that caused controversy in Brazil _ "Tropa de Elite'' ("The Elite Squad'') _ won the top Golden Bear award Saturday at the annual Berlin film festival.

Oscar contender "There Will Be Blood'' took two prizes, including best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. Sally Hawkins was named best actress for her part in British director Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky,'' while Iran's Reza Naji took the best actor award for the lead role in "The Song of Sparrows.''

"Elite Squad,'' which is directed by Jose Padilha and looks at the shady workings of Rio's Special Operations Police Battalion, faced an unsuccessful attempt by some officers to keep it out of theaters at the time of its release last year. It has since become a box-office hit in Brazil.

It is not a documentary, but claims to tell the true stories of 12 former officers from the black-uniformed paramilitary unit whose very insignia _ a dagger-impaled skull _ strikes fear into residents of Rio's shanty towns. Human rights groups have claimed the squad, which battles with armed drug gangs, fires indiscriminately. "The film already became a very big thing in Brazil, and this reward gives us the strength to go forward,'' producer Marcos Prado said as he and Padilha accepted the Golden Bear statuette.

The movie "aims to explain how the state turns ... people who join the police either into corrupted people, or people that don't really want to do anything with their jobs _ or, worst of all, violent people,'' Padilha told reporters later. "I'm very happy that Berlin got it.''

The festival's jury grand prize, which comes with a runner-up Silver Bear, went to Oscar-winning U.S. director Errol Morris' "Standard Operating Procedure,'' a documentary on the scandal over prisoner abuse at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Morris spent nearly two years pursuing interviews with soldiers involved in the notorious photos of abuse that emerged from the facility, combining them with re-enacted scenes.

Morris said the prize was "a terrific award for me'' and would also help expand its audience.

"I think the movie fairly clearly points out _ I hope it's convincing _ that the people who were actually tried, convicted and imprisoned for Abu Ghraib are not the only people involved in all of this,'' he said.

"There Will Be Blood,'' starring Daniel Day-Lewis as an obsessed turn-of-the-century oil man, had been many critics' favorite to win the top honors. It has eight Oscar nominations, including for best film and best actor.

It still landed the best director prize for Anderson, who won the Golden Bear in 2000 for "Magnolia,'' and the award for an outstanding artistic contribution, which went to Jonny Greenwood's musical score. Anderson paid tribute to Day-Lewis as "a terrific actor who makes any director a good director.''

Hawkins won the best actress prize for playing a London teacher in "Happy-Go-Lucky.'' Leigh has said the movie is meant to celebrate the power of positive thinking, and Hawkins described it as "extraordinary, beautiful and very special film.''

Naji was honored as best actor for playing a long-suffering father in director Majid Majidi's "The Song of Sparrows.'' Naji plays Karim, who loses his job on an ostrich farm and then falls into working as a motorcycle taxi driver in Tehran as he struggles to make ends meet.

Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai was credited with the best script for "In Love We Trust,'' while the prize for an innovative film went to "Lake Tahoe,'' directed by Fernando Eimbcke of Mexico.

The winners were chosen from among the 21 films in the competition by a six-member international jury under Constantin Costa-Gavras, the Greek-born director of "Z'' and "Missing.'' - AP

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