A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards

ACAP is a raw and honest attempt at showing the ignored lives of riot cops, at least their personal lives and internal issues are seldom spoken of! Shot and narrated in a Documentary style, it gives the movie a gritty reality, well complemented by some good performances from the cast. The background score does add value to the drama, the ending truly class.

Italian being an alien language, I had to keep my eye on subtitles as well, which did mar my movie experience - I did watch it a second time without subtitles. I had to make a thorough study on the whole plot, the immigration issues and the hatredness for cops - it was all new to me. And once i got the hang of the issues being discussed, I really did love the movie, yea it might not be the the action thriller or biopic thriller the global audience would go after, but it deserves to be in the Global panorama, for the rawness and gruesome reality it shows, obviously the technical side should take a bow for making an outstanding movie product. 7.5/10

I have to admit, when I first grabbed this, it was on a recommendation from someone else, and I knew nothing about it at all, other than it was about the Police. What I got was a rather warts and all depiction of the lives of four Riot Squad Police Officers. The story begins with a new recruit joining the ranks who comes from the gutter himself, frequenting with the character types that the rest of the squad normally find themselves up against. The other topic that is explored heavily here is immigration and themes of patriotism and racism. Many layers of this are looked at and the film is especially clever at depicting the thin grey line between characters who are wanting Italy to turn to days of old and those who wish for the same but put the blame on the immigrants. Other subplots involve one character who is going through a messy divorce from an interracial relationship, another has his son joining the Italian equivalent of the National front while a third is on charges of brutality while the rookie seems to have an alternative motive for wanting the join the force. What the film lacks in a central plot thread it makes up for with its raw portrayal of these mens lives. The biggest problem might in fact be that you find it hard to sympathise with any of these characters as none of them are especially likable. On other films this would be more of a problem, but in this movie it doesn't stop you from getting into the story, because their lives are so compelling and while you may not like their characters you gradually have an understanding of where their anger comes from as your given an insight into their complex role they have to fulfil while balancing their personal and professional lives. Politicans do not give off lightly, using the police to resolve problems of their own making and then barely treating them any better than the people they often are in conflict with. They ultimately take the law into their own hands to resolve some grievances making me wonder how much such things really do go on.

Its not an easy watch, but its worthwhile, and as someone else said, even if you don't agree with the directors political stance (I'm not sure what it was, as the protesters and hooligans aren't portrayed in a good light either) its a well made film with sterling performances from the four leads. This is a side to Italy that we wouldn't normally see. All Cops Are Bastards, perhaps so, but they're human just like the rest of us.

good movie, but don't get why some of the viewers attack on extreme left wings. Let me yell you i would consider my self Left or extreme left and i really liked the film. In the film we witness these riot cops lives and psychology, in fact director hidden targets the government/state's real role on police brutality, moreover these riot cops lives like school kids in a way, they don't have proper personal lives, take the cop who is stabbed, his son hangs out with faschist, he is over 40 and no proper connection with his son, and what about the new comer who reports his fellow copper(and i think thats what real police officer should do but than again thats another thing) i think the ending was good as we see what ever they do they still got their job back, and thats the reality, i mean how many times you witness a police officer been kicked out or convicted for the 'crime's he/she has done.what ever happens they got their job back mostly. A recent example to that(not even a riot police) the police officer who shot the black guy(forget his name) in tottenham which eventually led rioting in London then all of England, but than again the police officer who shot the guy still did get away. Any way back to the film, its realistic, in fact it wouldn't be realistic to show them just bloodthirsty people, there are always morals, conditions and psychology for these action (and class culture)

It's always a bad assumption to characterize a group of people and make them what you think they are. Or what maybe a lot of them are doing. This issue gets handled head on here and it doesn't take any prisoners. The movie is made for you to think (especially if you're Italian or have followed some of the things that went down in that country) about incidents. Like the one depicted in another movie (Diaz: Don't clean up this blood). It's only a small fraction in this movie here, but that issue is spoken of too.

So while you might have a pre-arranged picture that suits the title of the movie, there is more going on. Of course the movie would not be authentic if it didn't involve said cops. But the question always remains, why it came to that fact (for some of them). If you're open minded this might appeal to you and you might see that there are some differences

There are a couple of problems with this movie, the characters are lacking a proper backstory, the actors aren't good either, but after all it doesn't matter. Because these are minor issues in a much better story.

The most surprising thing for me was that there's no right or wrong in this movie. There are no moral winners, the director let's the story flow and it's up to the viewer to decide what to think. Another positive aspect of the film is, that it's very down to earth. It's about current social issues in Europe like immigration, ethnic tensions and radical movements based on the inability of the justice. (Maybe this would make difficult for non-European viewers to connect, but it worked for me.)

So if you're tired of movies about slavery and oversimplified topics that are way beyond us, here's a film about the world we're living in and the issues we have to deal with.