This is quite an exceptional film about the infamous Esquadrão da Morte ("Death Squad") made during the beginning of the final years of the military regime
in Brazil. "República dos Assassinos" ("Assassin's Republic") tells the story of the dangerous police officer Mateus Romeiro (Tarcísio Meira) and his Steelmen,
officers who murdered criminals and innocent people too in order to reinforce to marginality and population that the police isn't a force to be toyed around.
Romeiro was based on a known officer who were killed in mysterious circumstances.
Here, the movie chronicles through flashbacks the murder of a simple bandit who was killed by Romeiro's gang, the petty thief Carlinhos (Tonico Pereira) and barely Romeiro knew that the thief had a companion the transvestite Eloína (the amazing Anselmo Vasconcelos) who knows all about him and wants to testify against the man who accumulates loads of processs against him but always manages to escape conviction.
The film also covers his relationship with his first wife (Sandra Bréa), of whom he abandons for a younger woman (Silvia Bandeira) daughter of an influent newspaper editor (José Lewgoy) who covers all the stories about the death squad with his yellow journalism that stands between creating more story about the man or finding ways to provide more evidence for Romeiro's conviction.
"República dos Assassinos" tells everything exactly like it is with the brutal killings, entrapments to frame people or to create scenarios where the police was the victim of petty criminals; they weren't combating drug dealers or the bicheiros (of whom they always asked for favors). Credible performances from the cast also makes of this is a good and realistic experience to watch. Some moments here and there are lost or painfully made to alienate audiences. For instance, Romeiro's ex-wife rape on the hands of the newspaper editor was plain dumb, with a music score that makes it seems all playful and fun. I wonder what the writers and director were thinking in creating such scene. That moment almost ruins the movie for being pathetic, gratuitous and pointless to the story - it almost has a point for being the there but the way it was composed it makes me wonder why make fun of a tragic situation.
Other than that, the movie offers plenty of good memorable moments such as the death of Carlinhos; the sequences with him and Eloína; Romeiro's suspenseful escape from prison among others; and obviously the ending. I loved that ending. Not gonna tell, just leaving you curious for it. It's really worth seeing. It's an interesting film about how death squads worked in Brazil, an almost historic film just wronged by a few sequences. 8/10.
Romeiro was based on a known officer who were killed in mysterious circumstances.
Here, the movie chronicles through flashbacks the murder of a simple bandit who was killed by Romeiro's gang, the petty thief Carlinhos (Tonico Pereira) and barely Romeiro knew that the thief had a companion the transvestite Eloína (the amazing Anselmo Vasconcelos) who knows all about him and wants to testify against the man who accumulates loads of processs against him but always manages to escape conviction.
The film also covers his relationship with his first wife (Sandra Bréa), of whom he abandons for a younger woman (Silvia Bandeira) daughter of an influent newspaper editor (José Lewgoy) who covers all the stories about the death squad with his yellow journalism that stands between creating more story about the man or finding ways to provide more evidence for Romeiro's conviction.
"República dos Assassinos" tells everything exactly like it is with the brutal killings, entrapments to frame people or to create scenarios where the police was the victim of petty criminals; they weren't combating drug dealers or the bicheiros (of whom they always asked for favors). Credible performances from the cast also makes of this is a good and realistic experience to watch. Some moments here and there are lost or painfully made to alienate audiences. For instance, Romeiro's ex-wife rape on the hands of the newspaper editor was plain dumb, with a music score that makes it seems all playful and fun. I wonder what the writers and director were thinking in creating such scene. That moment almost ruins the movie for being pathetic, gratuitous and pointless to the story - it almost has a point for being the there but the way it was composed it makes me wonder why make fun of a tragic situation.
Other than that, the movie offers plenty of good memorable moments such as the death of Carlinhos; the sequences with him and Eloína; Romeiro's suspenseful escape from prison among others; and obviously the ending. I loved that ending. Not gonna tell, just leaving you curious for it. It's really worth seeing. It's an interesting film about how death squads worked in Brazil, an almost historic film just wronged by a few sequences. 8/10.
