Elite Squad: The Enemy Within - Characters & Cast

Initially, his motivation is to eradicate crime and corruption through force. As the film progresses, his motivation shifts to protecting his son, Rafael, and exposing the corrupt political system that he inadvertently helped strengthen. It becomes a personal quest for redemption and a desperate attempt to clean up the mess he helped create.

Nascimento evolves from a hardened BOPE commander who believes in absolute, violent justice to a politically savvy, but weary, strategist. After his promotion, he attempts to use the system's power against itself, only to realize he is a pawn. His arc is one of disillusionment, as he discovers the true enemy is not on the streets but in the halls of power. He is forced to abandon his black-and-white worldview and ally with his ideological opponent, Diogo Fraga, to achieve a small measure of justice.

Fraga is driven by a deep-seated belief in human rights and social justice. He is motivated to expose the militias and the corrupt politicians who support them, representing a path to change through democracy and law, rather than violence. His character was inspired by the real-life politician Marcelo Freixo.

Fraga begins as a human rights activist and history teacher who is Nascimento's ideological opposite, advocating for peaceful negotiation and condemning police brutality. After being involved in the prison riot, he is elected as a State Representative. His arc sees him move from an outsider critic to an insider fighting the system through legal and political means. He maintains his ideals but learns he must get his hands dirty and form an uneasy alliance with Nascimento to make a real difference.

Matias is motivated by a soldier's sense of duty and a belief in the mission of BOPE. He wants to clean up the streets and believes in the unit's code. When he realizes the system itself is the problem, his motivation becomes to expose it, even at great personal cost.

Captain Matias represents the pure, incorruptible ideal of a BOPE officer that Nascimento once championed. He is a skilled and loyal soldier who follows orders. However, after he is made a scapegoat for the prison riot and demoted, he becomes disillusioned with Nascimento and the system. His arc is tragic; he tries to fight corruption his own way by leaking information to a journalist, but his refusal to compromise ultimately leads to his death at the hands of the corrupt system he sought to defeat.

Rocha is motivated by greed and power. He sees the power vacuum in the favelas as a business opportunity. He leverages his position as a police officer to run a brutal protection racket, all while working with politicians to ensure his operation is protected by "The System."

Rocha is a minor character in the first film who rises to become a primary antagonist. He is the face of the new enemy: the militias. His arc is a climb to power. He and his corrupt allies seize the opportunity created by BOPE's crackdown on drug dealers to establish their own criminal empire, extorting residents and consolidating political power through violence and intimidation. He represents the successful adaptation of corruption.