Winner of the golden bear for best film

The two most overtly political movies in
competition at this year's Berlin Film Festival won the top
prizes, surprising some critics who had questioned their
message and methods.

Winner of the golden bear for best film was Jose Padilha's
"The Elite Squad" ("Tropa De Elite"), an ultra-violent
portrayal of a crack team of Brazilian police who resort to
corruption, torture and worse as they fight drug warlords in
the Rio slums.

The runner-up jury grand prix award went to Oscar-winning
documentary maker Errol Morris for "Standard Operating
Procedure," an examination of what went wrong at the Abu Ghraib
jail in Iraq where U.S. soldiers abused prisoners.

Critics were sharply divided by the choice of winner.

While some reviews praised it as a powerful and fast-paced
story of the moral compromises police accept in order to
survive, others said it glorified their often brutal methods.
One called it a "recruitment film for fascist thugs."

Padilha defended his movie, already a big hit in Brazil,
saying that it portrayed events as they really were. Earlier in
the competition he argued that the only way to break the cycle
of crime connected with drugs was to legalize them.

"(The film) shows how the state turns the police into
either corrupt police or police who don't want to do anything,
or violent police," Padilha said after the awards late on
Saturday.

"The Elite Squad" is the latest in a series of acclaimed
Brazilian films showing Rio's ugly side, following the
Oscar-nominated "City of God" about gangs in a Rio slum.

The Weinstein Company bought the rights to "The Elite
Squad" before it was made, relying on the script alone.

SOBER LOOK AT ABU GHRAIB

"Standard Operating Procedure" is a sober analysis of what
went wrong at Abu Ghraib.

"As the movie points out ... the people who are actually
convicted and in prison over Abu Ghraib are not the only people
involved in this," said Morris.

Although less controversial than "The Elite Squad" it also
failed to win over some viewers, who felt it offered little new
insight into the abuse and ignored the wider issue of how the
scandal surrounding it dented U.S. prestige.

More popular were the silver bear awards for best director,
actor and actress.

The director award went to Paul Thomas Anderson for "There
Will Be Blood," starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a greedy and
determined oil prospector in early 20th Century America.

Although many critics rated it as the best competition
entry, the fact that it is already out in the United States and
has eight Oscar nominations may have counted against it.

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

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


Best screenplay was won by China's Wang Xiaoshuai, who
wrote and directed "In Love We Trust," about a divorced couple
who go to drastic lengths to try and save their sick daughter.


Other highlights in Berlin included Martin Scorsese's
"Shine a Light," a concert film of the Rolling Stones.
Madonna's much-anticipated directorial debut "Filth & Wisdom"
disappointed several critics, however, who said it was as poor
as her worst performances in front of the camera.