BRAZILIAN JEITINHO AND CULTURE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FILMS ELITE SQUAD 1 AND 2

CULTURA E JEITINHO BRASILEIRO: UMA ANÁLISE DOS FILMES TROPA DE ELITE 1 E 2

LA CULTURA Y JEITINHO BRASILEIRO: ANALISIS DE LAS PELICULAS TROPA DE ELITE 1 Y 2

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

The present study tried to observe the representations of Brazilian jeitinho, typical of Brazilian culture, through the analyses of the movies Elite squad (Tropa de elite) and Elite squad: the enemy within (Tropa de elite: o inimigo agora é outro).

Originality/gap/relevance/implications:

The article corroborates the ongoing debate on the field and offers alternatives for the study of Business Administration, by using the film analysis as a technique. It is of utmost importance to evidence that analyses such as this one, contribute to Business Administration by, when well situated, aiding in the comprehension of themes and concepts, leading students and readers to obtain new reflections and new perspectives about the subjects in question.

Key methodological aspects:

The qualitative character is a methodological landmark of this work, which uses the technique of indirect observation to analyze the films. From the utilization of a reflexive methodology, we were supported by the categorization of the data analyzed, based on the "implications" of jeitinho, present in Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi and Pedroso (2009). For a better perspective of these implications, tables were constructed linking them to specific scenes in the films.

Summary of key results:

Jeitinho appears in the movies as a notable presence in the Brazilian culture, entering the realm of the organizations, which is the case of the Military Police, the organization presented in the analyses of the films.

Key considerations/conclusions:

Thus, it was possible to notice peculiarities of the Brazilian culture through the analysis of national productions, contributing, then, to the ongoing debate in the field, trying to offer alternatives to the study of Administration, especially in what concerns the absorption of the national culture in the organizations.

KEYWORDS:
Culture; Jeitinho; Corruption; Elite squad; Filmic analysis

RESUMO

Objetivo:

O presente estudo buscou explorar as representações do jeitinho brasileiro, característico da cultura brasileira, a partir da análise dos filmes Tropa de elite: missão dada é missão cumprida e Tropa de elite 2: o inimigo agora é outro.

Originalidade/lacuna/relevância/implicações:

O artigo corrobora com o debate na área e traz alternativas ao estudo da Administração, ao utilizar da análise fílmica como técnica. É mister evidenciar que análises deste tipo contribuem para a Administração a partir do momento em que, quando bem situadas, auxiliam na compreensão de temáticas e conceitos, levando alunos e leitores a obterem reflexões e novos olhares sob os assuntos abordados.

Principais aspectos metodológicos:

O caráter qualitativo é marca metodológica deste trabalho, que utiliza da técnica de observação indireta para analisar os filmes comentados. A partir da utilização de uma metodologia reflexiva, apoiou-se na categorização dos dados para análise, baseados nos "desdobramentos" do jeitinho brasileiro, presentes em Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi e Pedroso (2009). Para melhor enxergar esses desdobramentos foram construídas tabelas relacionando-os a cenas específicas dos filmes

Síntese dos principais resultados:

O jeitinho aparece nos filmes como presença marcante da cultura brasileira, adentrando o âmbito das organizações, como é o caso da Polícia Militar, organização apresentada na análise dos filmes.

Principais considerações/conclusões:

Foi possível enxergar peculiaridades da cultura brasileira através da análise de produções nacionais, corroborando, assim, com o debate na área, buscando trazer alternativas ao estudo da Administração, em especial no que diz respeito à absorção da cultura nacional nas organizações.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:
Cultura; Jeitinho brasileiro; Corrupção; Tropa de elite; Análise fílmica

RESUMEN

Objetivo:

El presente estudio era observar las representaciones de el jeitinho - la manera brasileña - característico de la cultura brasileña, a partir de los análisis de las películas Tropa de elite: missão dada é missão cumprida y Tropa de elite 2: o inimigo agora é outro.

Originalidad/laguna/relevancia/implicaciones:

El artículo ayuda el debate en la zona y oferece alternativas a el estúdio de la Administración, en el uso de análisis de películas como la técnica. Es necesario demostrar que el análisis de este tipo, contribuir a la Administración desde el momento cuando está bien colocado, ayudar en la comprensión de los temas y conceptos, que conducen a los estudiantes y lectores para obtener reflexiones y nueva mira debajo de los temas tratados.

Principales aspectos metodológicos:

La metodología cualitativa es marca comercial de esta obra, que utiliza la técnica de la observación indirecta para analizar las películas comentadas. A partir de la utilización de una metodología de reflexión se basa en la clasificación de los datos para su análisis, basado en el "desarrollo" de la manera brasileña, presente en Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi y Pedroso (2009). Para ver mejor estas tablas se construyeron desarrollos vincularlos a determinadas escenas de películas.

Síntesis de los principales resultados:

El jeitinho aparece en las películas como una fuerte presencia de la cultura brasileña, que entra en el ámbito de las organizaciones, tales como la Policía Militar, la organización presentó el análisis de las películas.

Principales consideraciones/conclusiones:

Pudimos ver peculiaridades de la cultura brasileña através del análisis de la producción nacional, lo que confirma el debate en la zona, la búsqueda de alternativas para llevar a los estúdios de Administración, especialmente con respecto a la absorción de la cultura nacional en las organizaciones.

PALABRAS CLAVE:
La cultura; Jeitinho; La corrupción; Tropa de elite; El análisis de la película

1 INTRODUCTION

Who has never witnessed someone perform (or even actually performed themselves) acts like skipping a line, bribing a traffic policeman, or seeking privileges from social connections? These habits, which are not uncommon for Brazilians, are ubiquitous and, sometimes, are naturalized to the point of becoming mundane and inconspicuous practices. Several authors in different moments have dedicated themselves to the study of these practices that, in the Brazilian context, became known as the Brazilian jeitinho - which can be translated to "Brazilian Way". Among the scholars who investigated the subject are: Vieira, Costa and Barbosa (1982), Barbosa (1992), DaMatta (1997), Motta and Alcadipani (1999), Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi and Pedroso (2009), Gomes, Moraes and Helal (2015), among others.

Several aspects of jeitinho have been subjected to debate, such as its historical outlines, revised by Motta and Alcadipani (1999); its relation to bureaucracy, debated by Vieira et al. (1982); its consequences, analyzed by Massukado-Nakatani et al. (1990) etc. The historiographical reconstruction of jeitinho performed by Motta and Alcadipani (1999), for example, sought to retrace the elements which might have influenced the jeitinho on the country's colonial origins and on the formation of Brazilian society. When discussing the relation between jeitinho and bureaucracy, Vieira et al. (1982) refer to the notion of "formalism" coined by Fred Riggs (1964), which presupposes a divergence between the prescriptive and the descriptive, i.e., between what is legal and regulated, and what in fact happens, in reality (Santos, Santos, & Braga, 2013). Generally speaking, Vieira et al. (1982) show that through this relation, the jeitinho exists as a base for a society which is marked by loose relations, impersonality, patrimonialism etc. Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) discuss jeitinho based on the revision of previous studies in order to approach some of its implications, which can be, according to Barbosa (1992), good or bad.

However, one must ponder: in what consists the jeitinho? Is it the roguishness, the breaking of rules, a general lack of education of the population, is it directly associated to money? (Gomes, Moraes, & Helal, 2015). These questions confront us with a Brazilian cultural trace that is so strong that, as aforementioned, seems to be unnoticeable in the everyday life of the population but which, however, is represented in artistic works which discuss the country, such as the classic films Alô, amigos and Você já foi à Bahia?, released in the 1940s, and contemporary works, such as Elite squad and its sequel, Elite squad: the enemy within (released in 2007 and 2010, respectively), A dog's will (2000), God is Brazilian (2003), Brasília 18% (2006), Caixa dois (2007), Saneamento básico (2007), among others, which leads us to reflect upon the impact and the importance of cinema films on the characterization of the national reality.

Film analyses have been used by several scholars, in different fields, as a way to perceive reality in fiction, and help comprehend several themes and aid in the apprehension of concepts, reflections etc. In Business Administration, one can mention the studies by Mendonça and Guimarães (2008), Mello, Marçal and Fonseca (2009), Leite et al. (2012), Machado, Ipiranga and Matos (2012), Rezende and Araújo (2012), Tavares, Ferreira, Silva and Leite (2012), Gomes et al. (2015), among others, which sought to create, through the discussions of films, debates on several themes.

Following this line of thought, this article shows its relevance by using a technique that has seen increasing importance in several fields, the film analysis, and by discussing a subject which is pertinent to Business Administration and that keeps offering new conclusions and revisions, due to the diversity it offers. In this sense, this article aims at observing how the Brazilian jeitinho is represented in the films Elite squad and Elite squad: the enemy within, based on the unfoldings or implications of the jeitinho, summarized by Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi and Pedroso (2009).

The first section, then, aims at discussing the plurality of the Brazilian culture and its influences, formation, and specificity, followed by the discussion on jeitinho. Then, the methodology used for the analyses will be presented. Finally, the results of the analyses, followed by the conclusions, will be shown.

2 THE BRAZILIAN CULTURE(S)

By saying "Brazilian cultures", we reinforce the heterogeneous character attributed to the theme by the studies which approach it. It is essential to discuss these aspects and its specificities in order to approach the article's object. However, considering the innumerable implications and details involved in the debates of "Brazilian cultures", the task proves to be complex and difficult. Therefore, it is not the goal of this article to exhaust such discussion. On the contrary, we seek this debate in order to briefly map the related aspects, for the specificities of the Brazilian culture are extremely distinct when considering regions, tribes and even organizations.

Among the classics, we highlight the works of DaMatta (1986; 1997), Holanda (1995) and Freyre (2006). In the works of DaMatta (1986; 1997), we see the Brazilian national culture being represented through the Carnival, the rogues [malandros] and the heroes; through the space of the house and of the street; and even through the country's typical food. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, on the other hand, in Roots of Brazil (Raízes do Brasil, in the original), presents the European influence in the country's colonization as the cause for its multifaceted character. Gilberto Freyre analyzes the country's reality based on the ties of colonization, evidencing how the Brazilian culture is subject to aspects which are distinct from those that appear preliminarily as the result of more superficial analyses. However, it is worth mentioning Holanda's (1995, p. 40) suggestion regarding a more thorough analysis of culture: "[...] experience and tradition teach that every culture generally only absorbs, assimilates and elaborates the traces of other cultures, when these traces find a possibility of adjusting to the frames of their lives" (free translation).^I

We first emphasized the plurality of the Brazilian culture; however, such aspect is not present in researches conducted on the field of Business Administration, according to Alcadipani and Crubellate (2003). These authors conducted a study which mapped the researches developed around organizational culture between 1991 and 2000, and identified homogenous discussions, i.e., which approach the theme in a univocal manner, overlooking the country's own plurality. The authors even reach beyond the classics by claiming that, besides the Europeans, the Africans and indigenous influence shaped the plural base which is Brazil, a kind of "kaleidoscope" of peoples and ethnicities.

In this kaleidoscope, one must emphasize the notion of a Brazilian culture formed by diverse regional characteristics, with the economic-cultural processes they develop being an example for such differentiation. Bosi (1992) warns about the danger of the notion of a unified, singular culture, and proposes that by not observing the regional particularities, the traditions of each region, its people, its habits etc., one might be establishing a false idea of culture. Alcadipani and Crubellate (2003) and Muzzio (2010) share the same notion of plurality by criticizing Hofstede's (1984) research, in which a uniform perception of the national culture is established.

Muzzio (2010), apart from criticizing Hofstede's classic research, shows his concern about international works that seek to compare cultural aspects between, for example, countries and nations, but which don't take into consideration the "subnational context", i.e., the possibility of different cultural expressions existing within a same region. That is the case of Brazil that winds up entering into a condition of "unexploitation" in what concerns regional culture.

Rodrigues and Tude (2008) evidenced the distinction between regional cultures in Brazil by conducting a study regarding the perceptions of the gaúcha and baiana cultures (the cultures from, respectively, the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul and the northeastern state of Bahia) in the interactions on the work environment. The research revealed that despite the differences between the regional cultures - baiana and gaúcha -, the organization that was studied attempted to make this diversity uniform by not observing the peculiarity of the distinct behaviors, i.e., the interculturality of that environment - an attempt that can harm some actions that might be implemented in the organization.

In this sense, the apprehension of the Brazilian culture cannot be homogenized; in fact, it is quite the opposite: one must be attentive to the existing peculiarities of the different regions, because "in spite of sharing the same language and elements of the national culture, they perceive themselves in different manners. It is the Brazil made up of several Brazils"² (Rodrigues & Tude, 2008, p. 15). Therefore, regional aspects must be taken into consideration in the studies of organizational culture, since these cultural variables may positively influence the results of organizations, starting from the internal and external relations of the organization.

There is, therefore, an intertwining of cultures which molds practices. However, it cannot be said that there is a dominant culture which dictates the norms and rules which must be internalized by the individuals. As Motta (1997) affirms, each culture will exercise its own control over its members. The country's history itself might be an element that influences its people's social imaginary, as is the case with Brazil (Machado, 2008). Furthermore, in the same way that culture exercises control to some extent, the social characteristics might become themselves a kind of social control, according to Motta and Alcadipani (1999).

DaMatta (1986) suggests that only through a political, economical and cultural analysis it is possible to comprehend a country's culture. The author further claims that there are some characteristics of the Brazilian culture that wind up more in evidence than others, for example the formalism, which consists on the difference between what the law states and the concrete conduct, a difference which does not imply in punishment for the culprit, which is considered the main cause for the jeitinho (Motta & Alcadipani, 1999); paternalism, a cultural trace that articulates the concentration of power and the personalism among individuals, which expresses itself centrally on patriarchalism, i.e., the influence of personal relations on the designation of functions (Sobral & Peci, 2013); patrimonialism, a certain confusing amalgam between the public and the private (Martins, 1997); and clientelism [clientelismo], which is inserted in a personalist logic, where the bureaucracies and the political parties inhabit (Nunes, 2010).

There is also the case of personalism, which consists on the use of personal authority as a form of obtaining privileges - the famous "do you know who I am?" -, classically used in jeitinho practices, which ends up being praised by Brazilians, according to Nunes (2010), in such a way that turns it into a mechanism of control of social relations.

These specific - though not exclusive - Brazilian cultural characteristics make the national culture ambiguous and heterogeneous. However, for Motta (1997), this ambiguity can work positively by offering alternative paths, which evoke creativity and innovation; or negatively, as is the case with patronage [apadrinhamento] and with the use of informal relations in order to obtain official favors. Lastly, the jeitinho becomes a defining characteristic of the national culture, and displays several nuances which will be evidenced in the next section.

3 THE BRAZILIAN JEITINHO

The diversity of Brazilian culture, as previously discussed, is also a result of the country's historical formation. Characteristics such as patrimonialism, paternalism, cordiality etc., are examples of predicates attributed to the national culture. However, the jeitinho is the most well-known element, due to its problem-solving character. But conceptualizing this element is not an easy task, considering the several elements which constitute it. The origin of this characteristic, according to some authors, as aforementioned, can be attributed to the power relations in the formation of the Brazilian Society (Holanda, 1995; Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi, & Pedroso, 2009).

Authors such as Guerreiro Ramos (1993), Campos (1966) and Rosenn (1971) agree with this proposition: for them, the jeitinho was established in the formation of the national society, with the influence from Portuguese, indigenous peoples etc. Besides its origin, another rich discussion on the studies of jeitinho is its universal or Brazilian character; authors such as Barbosa (1992) and Vieira et al. (1982) defend the notion that jeitinho has a universal character, that is, it is present all around the world, not exclusively in Brazil. Authors such as Motta and Alcadipani (1999), on the other hand, attribute to the practice a national character.

All this considered, it becomes clear that the conceptualization of jeitinho is a complex task, given the multiplicity of discussions around it. Authors such as Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) and Motta and Alcadipani (1999) propose that jeitinho is characterized by the act of doing favors to someone, which might or might not bring material rewards. This favor, in general, goes against the law and favors the individual, but does not harm the collective (Gomes et al., 2015). The category of "corruption" is inserted in the debates around jeitinho in an interesting way, by questioning to what extent can an action be considered jeitinho or corruption, given the material element present. In this aspect, authors like Motta and Alcadipani (1999), Vieira (2008) and Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) disagree. For the former, jeitinho is not related to financial gains, while for the latter (Massukado-Nakatani et al., 2009), jeitinho can be followed by material gains, including monetary. However, the difference lies in the grandeur of the gains; if they are too high, for the authors, the actions can no longer be considered jeitinho and become corruption.

In an attempt to conceptualize this element of the Brazilian national culture, we present some of its characteristics, such as the cordiality with which it is practiced. The politeness, the niceness and the humility are required for the practice of jeitinho, according to Motta and Alcadipani (1999). However, there are also negative aspects which bear characteristics like dishonesty and corruption (DaMatta, 1997; Massukado-Nakatani et al., 2009), which might offer an alternative to the bureaucracy, the formality and the patrimonialism, characteristics which are also constitutive of Brazilian culture (Vieira, Costa & Barbosa, 1982).

In this sense, jeitinho becomes a type of power, especially in what concerns the individual/person relation, providing the latter (the people) things that would be more difficult to attain through bureaucracy (Holanda, 1995; DaMatta, 1997). However, due to the aspects of cordiality that are present in this element, it differs itself from corruption, for it seeks human relations which do not necessarily involve money. Solidarity becomes the founding aspect of the relations based on jeitinho.

However, the exchange of favors for money is not excluded from the process; it is characterized as counterproductive, a negative variation of jeitinho (Vieira et al., 1982; Massukado-Nakatani et al., 2009). Regarding this negative variation, Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) summarize what they call the "unfoldings" or the "implications" of jeitinho. The authors show that these implications may present positive or negative aspects. Among the positive aspects we find creativity, persuasion, ability to solve problems, adaptability, improvisation etc.; and among the negatives ones, non-conformity to the norms, possibility of corrupting or of being corrupted, abuse of power and alienation.

In the face of the discussions regarding the concept of jeitinho and its constitutive elements, it might be concluded that the practice can be described as a facilitated process of problem-solving, a way to bypass the rules, the bureaucracy and the formalism - other constitutive aspects of the Brazilian national culture. It can be achieved through the exchange of favors with one who displays solidarity towards the situation, or even through the exchange of material and/or financial goods, but taking into consideration the degree of these exchanges, for if they are too enormous, they can be understood as corruption (Gomes et al., 2015).

4 METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES

Moving pictures are interesting products when it comes to discussing certain realities. An attentive look to specific films can present interesting possibilities of discussion and reflection to the classroom. Academia, and here we emphasize the authors in Business Administration, have been using this technique as a way of shedding light into the corporative and social reality. Among such authors we find the works of Mendonça and Guimarães (2008), Mello et al. (2009), Leite et al. (2010), Leite et al. (2012), Machado et al. (2012), Rezende and Araújo (2012), Gomes et al. (2015), among others.

Following this perspective, this article attempts to observe how jeitinho appears and how it is represented in the movies Elite squad and Elite squad: the enemy within (hereinafter simply referred to, respectively, "Elite squad 1" and "Elite squad 2"), based on Vanoye and Goliot-Lété's (2008) notion that the film witnesses the real, regulating tensions or making us forget about them. Film analysis, according to Leite et al. (2012), is a complex work - however, it is fruitful for it presents the possibility of, as mentioned, regulating social tensions, and even working as a research instrument for certain realities, given that the art of cinema departs, sometimes, from the real world.

The question becomes even more complex when we affirm, based on Leite et al. (2012) and Vanoye and Goliot-Lété (2008), that film analysis requires a technical examination of the movie, a deconstruction that attempts to understand it more thoroughly in order to better enjoy it. This way, this article presents a qualitative approach, based on the technique of indirect observation, which suggests that the researcher should watch the scenes of the movie several times, looking in each one for elements that were not noticed before, in such a manner that the analysis will not be based only on the first perceptions (Vanoye & Goliot-Lété, 2008; Leite et al., 2012). The research includes, then, a reflexive methodology, which requires a careful interpretation of what was seen (Leite et al., 2010).

Based on the recommendations of the authors cited above, we tried to watch the movies more than once, in order to escape from the perspective of the first impressions so as not to base the analyses in mistakes. This way, the analyses will follow several scenes in the movies so as to observe how jeitinho appears and how it is represented, while at the same time evidencing the context presented in the film for a more thorough interpretation.

In this sense, we tried to, initially, define the themes and categories used in the analyses based on the theoretical background and on the methodological recommendations regarding the film analysis. This way, the categories for data analysis came from the work of Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009): persuasion, improvise, adaptability, cordiality, corruption, alienation and use of power - this last one represented by DaMatta's categorization of the expression "Do you know who I am?". Chart 1 presents the categories of jeitinho in the way they will be discussed.

Chart 1
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF JEITINHO.

NUMBER CORRESPONDING TO CHARACTERISTIC	POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS	NUMBER CORRESPONDING TO CHARACTERISTIC	NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS
1	Creativity and innovation	1	Tendency to not conform to norms
2	Initiative for effecting chance (in a certain situation) and ability to solve problems	2	Inclination to corrupt or be corrupted
3	Skills of persuasion and conciliation (negotiation)	3	Tendency to abuse power
4	Adaptability and flexibility	4	Alienation (tendency to allow oneself to be manipulated)
5	Ability in personal relationships	-	-
6	Improvisational skills	-	-

• Source: et al

The films were selected due to previous researches regarding the subject of jeitinho in the Brazilian cinema. Several films were considered before reaching the decision of the Elite squad franchise, a blockbuster that presents, in a contemporary way, problems of the Brazilian society which are influenced by its culture. The movies were shot in 2007 and 2010, both directed by José Padilha.

Shortly after the definition of the criteria for the analysis and the selection of the films, the movies were watched again and, likewise, the necessary notes were taken. A second stage of analysis was conducted so as to better visualize scenes, lines, gestures etc. that were missed on the first analysis. In this way, films were constantly watched again whenever the researchers deemed it necessary. After the analyses, tables were drawn containing the scenes (approximate time of the scene, description of the situation and classification in the implications of Chart 1) which presented, throughout the film, the most representative examples of what was being investigated in the research. That being done, a table was drawn for each film, in order to analyze them separately so as to make the analyses more comprehensible. Finally, general reflections were made regarding the films based on the literature presented.

5 FILM ANALYSIS

The analysis of the films is based on the elements of Chart 1 above. However, we start with the presentation of the movies’ themes so as to, after that, start the analyses.

The first movie to be discussed is Elite squad 1. As previously mentioned, the movie was released in 2007 and directed by José Padilha. The film was based on André Batista's and Rodrigo Pimentel's book Elite da Tropa, and tells the story of Captain Nascimento (played by Wagner Moura), a Captain of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police Battalion of Special Operations (Bope) - that intends to leave his office. Throughout the development of this character's story, the movie shows the corruption within the Police Corps and the attempts of some officers to follow the law but which, in some cases, end up falling back to the Brazilian jeitinho. Chart 2 helps understanding the implications of jeitinho in the film.

Chart 2
IMPLICATIONS OF JEITINHO IN ELITE SQUAD

APPROXIMATE TIME OF THE SCENE	DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENE	POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS	NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS
02:49min.	Corrupt police officers go up a favela to collect bribe money from drug dealers so as to “lay off” the persecution against the dealers.	-	1 and 2
38:00min./ 58:00min. (Continuation of the scene)	Rookie officer Neto tries to solve the problems with the police cars of the battalion he's working at through legal means; when the attempt proves itself futile, he resorts to the same means used by corrupt officers.	1 and 6	1 and 2
38:58min.	Captain Fabio finds out that the money he got for providing private police security for some specific shops was paid to another officer.	-	1 and 2
42:00min.	A soldier wants to leave on vacation, a constitutional right, but he can't because there are other processes ahead of his. The sergeant, his superior officer, offers him a quicker way to grant him his time-off.	-	1 and 3
47:00min.	Officers take dead bodies from one battalion to the other, so as to get rid of high homicide rates in their jurisdiction.	-	2

• Source: Elaborated by the authors

The analysis of the data starts with the positive implications of jeitinho which, in the film, only appear in one scene: when one of the honest police officers, Neto, tries to find a way to fix the cars in his battalion, for which he is responsible. Neto tries to make the repair shop of the battalion more productive; however, he faces the impossibility of finding parts for repairing the cars in there. Failing to achieve success through the formal means, the rookie decides to resort to jeitinho, an act commonly practiced by other officers in the battalion, so as to be able to fix the cars which are under his responsibility. However, we can consider that the jeitinho used by the officers enters the realm of corruption, to which we will return later, when dealing with the negative implications.

Neto's attitude here is portrayed as having as positive features the creativity and innovation (1) and improvisational skills (6) due to the way the officer tried to "work around" his duty: "using the system against the system". Barbosa (1992) and Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) claim that this quest for solutions and the gift of improvising in the face of problems is a positive characteristic of jeitinho. The voice-over narration which follows the first part of the scene (around the 38-minute mark) says that "without corruption, without the Brazilian jeitinho, the police stops for lack of maintenance".³ It is understood that a good action was proposed (repairing the vehicles), however, it was done through shady means (the collecting of money from local shop-owners). Neto's jeitinho, collecting money from the shop-owners who paid the police for private security, winds up entering the corruption scheme that was already being practiced by other police officers.

Let us now move to the exposition of the negative implications of jeitinho. Implications 1 (tendency to not conform to the norms) and 2 (inclination to corrupt or be corrupted) are almost generalizable in the scenes analyzed. The element which concerns the abuse of power (3) is also present in one of the scenes analyzed, close to the 42-minute mark, when a high rank officer tries to, through his position, corrupt a lower ranking officer that wishes to take a vacation. This superior officer, due to his position in the corporation's ranks and to the power he holds inside the institution, used schemes from which he could benefit in exchange for conceding jeitinhos to those who ask him for vacation.

As for implications 1 and 2, we may say that they, in the scenes analyzed, reach beyond the level of jeitinho. This is justified by the reading of Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009), where they claim that jeitinho is in between favor and corruption. This way, the police's jeitinho in the films is closer to corruption. In the first scene that was analyzed (02:49 minutes), their goal is to use jeitinho in their business, that is, let the drug dealers act freely, without any police intervention. For that end, they have a jeitinho by allying themselves with the police officers. However, such fact can be considered corruption, for the financial reward for turning the blind eye to the dealers is constant, which characterizes, then, an action that reaches beyond jeitinho (Massukado-Nakatani et al., 2009).

Another example of jeitinho that overflows into the realms of corruption is the scene around the 38-minute mark. In it, captain Fábio was after his "lunch" [merenda], that is, his payment for security services. He was looking for a jeitinho for making extra money, harming, however, a protection which is legally public, a police duty, and turning it into a kind of business. A business so profitable that other officers, in fact, take his position and his "clients" - for example Neto, that does it as a way of solving his problems and fulfilling his job at the repair shop.

The scene around the 47-minute mark also features implications 1 and 2 in what concerns the breaching of the imposed order. By taking dead bodies from one battalion to the other, so as to present better indexes to their superiors, the police officers corrupt not only the crime scenes, but also the official reports, which could be useful for the State, in exchange for not being penalized by the high homicide rate in the region. Here, not only are they not being adequate towards the norms, but also they are corrupting themselves.

The second film that was analyzed, Elite squad: the enemy within, shows a story where corruption and the illegal means to achieve self benefit happen in a different sphere: that of the politicians. The movie also deals with corruption within the police, by shedding light on the subject of the militias, but in a more elaborate manner than the first one. Some of the main characters of the first movie are also present in the sequel, such as Nascimento (Wagner Moura), now a colonel instead of a captain, Bope officer André Matias (André Ramiro), who is expelled from the corporation halfway through the movie, colonel Fábio (Milhem Cortaz), the corrupt officer, who now commands a battalion, among others. Chart 3 aids in the understanding of the instances of jeitinho in the film.

Chart 3
IMPLICATIONS OF JEITINHO IN ELITE SQUAD 2

APPROXIMATE TIME OF THE SCENE	DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENE	POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS	NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS
09:30min.	Prison ward enters a crowded prison cell and hands weapons to the inmates. He tells his fellow officer who is guarding the cell: “I am going to work something out here. Real quick”.*	5	1
29:00min.	In an argument between police officers, colonel Fábio makes a comment about Bope officer Mathias: “You can’t mess with him because he’s my friend, he saved me once”.**	3 and 5	3
32:00min.	Colonel Nascimento asks Mathias to lower his voice when talking to him, alluding to the authority he has over his fellow officer.	-	3
41:00min.	Officer Rocha, a militiaman, receives money from a community's drug dealers in order to “protect it” from police attacks.	1, 3 and 5	1, 2 and 3
1:00h	Rocha manages to bring Mathias back into the battalion, through the exploitation of a friendship with one of Bope’s high ranking officers.	5	1, 2, 3 and 4
1:00h	Mathias’s speech towards Colonel Nascimento, at 1:02h, reveals the jeitinho once again: he got back to Bope through someone's intervention.	5	1, 2, 3 and 4
1:20h	Believing in what he is doing, Colonel Nascimento manipulates his friendships and his power and manages to put illegal wiretaps in Congressman Fraga's house	3 and 5	1 and 3

• ^*
  “Vou resolver uma parada aqui. Rapidinho”
• ^**
  “Não pode mexer nele porque ele é meu amigo, já me salvou”
• Source: Elaborated by the authors

From the chart above, it is possible to perceive that among the "positive" implications of jeitinho, 3 (skills of persuasion and conciliation - negotiation) and 5 (ability in personal relationships) are the most recurring in the situations described. That means that jeitinho, in the police context in which the film is inserted, uses the relations of personhood (pessoalidade) to effect itself, as suggested by Motta and Alcadipani (1999), when affirming that personhood is one of the influential aspects of the Brazilian jeitinho.

In fact, this personhood is a way of escaping bureaucracy, made explicit in the film through the actions in the scene around the mark of 09:30 minutes, in which a prison ward passes by a cell guard while carrying weapons (intended to be handed to the inmates) and is not inspected. This implies the notion that the personal relationship between them already infers confidence and trust, and therefore the ward can step into the area where the inmates are. This can also be noted in other scenes: in the 1:20h-mark scene, where Colonel Nascimento uses his influence and friendship towards an employee in order to install illegal wiretaps in Congressman Fraga's house, to better develop his investigation without having to go through legal means; and the scene at around the mark of 1:00h, which presents officer Mathias's return to Bope, made possible through a phone call by officer Rocha, which shows how the relations of cordiality, personhood etc. are made present and influential in that environment. This way, it becomes explicit that, as affirmed by Vieira et al. (1982), Martins (1997) and Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009), it is through personal relations that it becomes possible to bypass the system. Here, the relations of cordiality and empathy reign as the means to achieve goals, characteristics shown by Motta and Alcadipani (1999).

There is also the scene at around the 25-minute mark, in which colonel Fábio displays certain paternalism towards officer Mathias, which implies skills of persuasion and an ability in personal relationships (implications 3 and 5). Implication 3 - the skill of persuasion and negotiation - can also be noticed in the scene around the 41-minute mark, in which officer Rocha receives money from drug dealers in order to, supposedly, not disturb the place: a negotiation. The officer worked a jeitinho in order to gain advantages from negotiating with dealers. The relations of personhood and of persuasion are present in the scene. However, they venture further and see in this jeitinho a greater opportunity of making money, which is to occupy the favelas and create the militias. In this way, they enter the realm of implication 1, which refers to the creativity and innovation of jeitinho.

As for the negative implications, all of the numbers present in the classification that was proposed in Chart 1 are present in the chosen scenes, with implications 1 (tendency to not conform to norms) and 3 (tendency to abuse power) being the most recurrent. In regards to the non-conformity to the norms, the scenes cited in Chart 3 converge to Motta's and Alcadipani's (1999) idea that jeitinho bypasses rules, laws etc. Phone calls to ask for favors - as in the scene of Mathias's return to Bope - unauthorized wiretaps installed under the orders of Colonel Nascimento, and the delivery of weapons to inmates are among the examples of the breaking of the rules.

However, the universal element in all the scenes is the abuse of power. The famous "Do you know who I am?" expressed by DaMatta (1997) is considerably noticeable in the scene where Colonel Nascimento tells officer Mathias to lower his voice when talking to him. Thus, Nascimento displays authority and uses the power he had as a former Bope high-rank officer. The other scenes also display the use of power as an instrument to reach the desired goal, for example, Fábio's authority over who can or cannot "mess" with officer Mathias (at the mark of 29 minutes), officer Rocha's authority over the drug dealers and his money collecting (41 minutes), and Rocha's authority and power displayed in his involvement in Mathias's return to Bope (1 hour) etc. However, these negative implications sometimes enter the realm of corruption - the scene at the 41-minute mark, for example. As previously mentioned in the analysis of the first movie, financial elements that enter frequently and in great proportion, surpassing what authors such as Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009) consider to be jeitinho, are classified as corruption.

In fact, the scene that occurs around the marks of 41 minutes is one of the most important in the film for the purpose of this research, for it involves several elements that are negative implications (1, 2, 3 and 4). It is possible to see matters related to corruption, persuasion, power relations etc. - all this in a single complex situation: an officer's return to a battalion from where he had been expelled.

It is interesting to notice that even the positive implications of jeitinho - such as creativity, innovation and the skill of improvising -, in the movie's context, end up having a negative connotation, for they approach the element of corruption or its possibility. Generally, much like the first movie, Elite squad 2 presented the limit of Brazilian jeitinho, i.e., the tendency to escalate into the level of corruption which, as affirmed by Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009), is based on extraordinarily huge sums of money.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Through the course of this article, it was possible to observe how the Brazilian culture is diverse and how its most peculiar elements are present in the everyday life of its population; jeitinho is among them. This characteristic, as seen through the course of this article, was already studied by several researchers, such as Barbosa (1992), Vieira et al. (1982), Massukado-Nakatani et al. (2009), just to cite a few. However, the Brazilian jeitinho was always represented in Brazilian movies, like the ones here analyzed.

Following this perspective, considering how important are the studies that investigate the national culture, this work's proposition is reaffirmed by the involvement of artistic elements (in this case, films) with researches in Business Administration. Thus, it was possible to notice peculiarities of Brazilian culture through the analysis of national productions, contributing, then, to the ongoing debate in the field, trying to offer alternatives to the study of Administration, especially in what concerns the absorption of the national culture in the organizations, such as the Military Police, the organization represented in the analysis of the films.

It is noticeable in the films that were analyzed, Elite squad and Elite squad: the enemy within, that, as aforementioned, the matter of corruption surpasses jeitinho. The notion of easy benefits is so embedded in the environment of the films that one cannot know in which cases it is only a matter of jeitinho, considering that all attempts of easy resolutions, be it for the benefit of the police, the politicians or the criminals, ended up entering the realm of corruption. However, it is possible to observe that, in the second film (Elite squad: the enemy within), the subject of power is more present.

Since the film's theme, apart from involving the corruption in the police, also spreads to the political realm, this element might have found there a space to become stronger. However, even noticing the frontier between jeitinho and corruption, we suggest that this theme might be better developed in future studies, which better analyze the use of films. Film analyses portray a facet of society that is often missed by spectators, thus, the use of films becomes an interesting didactic instrument for enabling discussions and debates in several environment, like the classroom, for example.

It is recommended, for future analyses, the comedic genre and its approach to the Brazilian jeitinho, shown in A dog's will. For studies as such, it is worth questioning whether comic movies are an ironic and lighter attempt to deal with a national issue, however, it is a subject that allows for many possibilities.

Lastly, it is concluded that, even within the continuous discussion of whether jeitinho is an exclusively Brazilian or a universal characteristic, the analyses presented in this article evidence that it is a significant presence in the Brazilian culture, which enters the realms of several institutions, such as the Military Police, as it can be seen in the films that were analyzed, for they approach the reality of an organization that has a direct link to society, which interferes substantially in it, especially when concerning the subject of jeitinho. In this sense, the work of the police officers and relations in the organization are also influenced by such feature.

• I
  “[...] a experiência e a tradição ensinam que toda cultura só absorve, assimila e elabora em geral os traços de outras culturas, quando estes encontram uma possibilidade de ajuste aos seus quadros de vida” (Holanda, 1995, p. 40, tradução nossa).
• 2
  “(...) apesar de compartilharem o mesmo idioma e elementos da cultura nacional, percebem-se de maneira tão diferentes. É o Brasil de tantos Brasis” (Rodrigues & Tude, 2008, p. 15).
• 3
  “[...] sem a corrupção, sem o jeitinho brasileiro, a polícia para por falta de manutenção”.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  May-Jun 2016

History

• Received
  06 May 2015
• Accepted
  01 Feb 2016