"The Elite Squad" wins top prize at Berlinale

BEIJING, Feb. 19 -- The ultra-violent Brazilian film - "Tropa De Elite", or "The Elite Squad", has claimed the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival. The awards ceremony wrapped up 11 days of screenings, red carpet premiers, parties and deal making at Europe's first major film festival of the year.

Already a hit in Brazil, The Elite Squad portrays corruption, violence and murder within a crack squad of Rio policemen battling armed drug dealers in the city's slums.

The drama was awarded the Golden Bear for best film, but has divided critics. Some reviews praised it as a powerful portrayal of the moral compromises the policemen accept in order to survive, but others said it glorified their often brutal methods.

Jose Padilha, director of "Tropa De Elite", said, "It was a very hard movie to do so it's great for me to get this."

The main award featured a line-up of 21 entries, but nearly 400 movies were showcased in all sections of the festival. The Silver Bear runner-up award went to "Standard Operating Procedure", a documentary by US director Errol Morris which explores the abuse of prisoners at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The best actor prize went to Iran's Reza Naji in "The Song of Sparrows", a film about how a man's rural paradise is threatened by material temptations thrown his way in the big city.

Britain's Sally Hawkins was named best actress for her portrayal of the infectiously optimistic school teacher in "Happy-Go-Lucky".

Paul Thomas Anderson of the United States won the best director award for "There Will Be Blood", the pre-awards favorite to take the Golden Bear for best film. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a greedy and determined oil prospector in early 20th century America and has already been nominated for eight Oscars.

"In Love We Trust", a film by Chinese writer and director Wang Xiaoshuai, which tells how a divorced couple deal with the illness of their daughter, won the Silver Bear for the best script.

(Source: CCTV.com)