Director Jose Padilha poses with the Golden Bear award for the best movie during the awarding ceremony at the 58th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, on Saturday. Padilha was awarded for his movie "Tropa de Elite." - Xinhua/Retuers

Brazilian movie "The Elite Squad" by director Jose Padiha won Golden Bear prize on Saturday in the Berlin Film Festival.

The thriller, already a hit in Brazil, tells about a police squad fiercely fighting drug warlords in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The movie, a controversial portray of grave violence and corruption, won the prize as a moderate surprise to the critics.

The US movie "There Will Be Blood" by Paul Thomas Anderson won Silver Bear prize for best director. The movie, starring Daniel Day-Lewis who played a greedy oil explorer, has been nominated for eight Oscar prizes including the best picture.

The best actor went to Iranian actor Reza Jajie in the Iranian movie "The Song of Sparrows," and the best actress went to Britain' s Sally Hawkins in the movie "Happy Go Lucky."

The documentary "Standard Operating Procedure" by director Errol Morris, which explores the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by the US soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, won the big jury prize.

The winners were selected from 21 competition movies by an international jury led by director Constantin Costa-Gavras. About 400 movies were showcased in all sections during the 11-day festival.