Gun battles, summary executions, torture sessions and bodies incinerated inside car tyres: it might sound like the nightly news in Rio, an increasingly violent city, but these are scenes from Tropa de Elite or Elite Squad, a new film that has taken Brazil by storm - even though it has yet to be released.
Then we sat down and had a two-hour interview full of rapes, gun battles, and summary justice, and I thought, Oh, boy, do I have a story.
More than 70 people died in the ensuing battle, including some in summary execution-style killings by soldiers.
According to an executive summary, the battle of Takur Ghar was the most intense firefight American special operators have been involved in since 18 U.S. Army Rangers were killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.
Legal challenges have grown at the same pace, as opponents and supporters battle over the 100-word summaries drafted by the secretary of state's office to appear on petitions.
Yesterday the Post-Dispatch quoted pollster Del Ali of Research 2000, whose verdict on the Missouri battle is probably a good summary of the national situation too.
"The Great Battle Under the Table," a summary in minuscule detail of the Napoleonic wars, teeters on the verge of mere comic illustration, but there is a demonic oomph about it — endorsed by neighboring pictures, evocative of Francis Bacon and Philip Guston — that postpones judgment.
After intense negotiation, copies of the secret contract signed by Fleisher, Taylor, McHale and Smith were made available to the N.B.A. Fleisher and Miller are still battling in court, with summary judgments expected in February.
Fourth, winning battles through murder, torture, summary executions and other crimes is a sure way to lose the war for hearts and minds simply because it brings everyone down to the moral level of the terrorist.
Summary of battles of the 5th USCC.
