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

The movie was an excellent insight of the Italian riot police ("celere"), through the everyday lives of 4 policemen. During the whole movie the tension is always high and it's been for me one of the rare cases where I never, at any point, took the part of the protagonists. Who are, as the title says, literally mean bastards. Despite that, it's a very powerful and emotional movie that reflects how the Italian society has degraded in the last decades (racism, violence, intolerance, corruption, etc)

The use of the photography and the music (great soundtrack!) is always well placed, adding more depth to many scenes. The movie is loosely based on the book with the same name, which is a reportage of a journalist based on true stories heard from real policemen.

I saw it at the Love & Anarchy movie festival in Helsinki, where the director was present and answered the audience's questions. I strongly disagree about the movie being pro-police or fascist. Actually, it's pretty much the opposite. In fact, it takes an almost perfect neutral point of view, trying to show the bare facts. All the opinions come from the viewer, not from the director. He (Stefano Sollima) was also pointing that out since he didn't want to express his judgment. And by the way, he's politically left oriented but the movie has nevertheless been criticized by all the sides: Police, hooligans, right parties and left parties (meaning that he managed to reach his goal...)

i usually abhor people who criticize other people online,but i would advise ignoring the bad previous comments.they are judging the movie by the political belief they possess rather then the movie itself.this to me is quite stupid as not many people share the same view nor the same perception of life.

The movie is well made,and doesn't defend anyone. i found no hero and no villain,or multiple villains if you may.

I would recommend this movie for the directing and acting as well as the story-line(even if you do not agree with the perception it gives of life).

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)

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

A.C.A.B is a phrase I grew up with in the U.K in the early eighties and was often seen tattooed on the fingers, necks and one time forehead of skinheads. I was intrigued to see it being used in Italy, that drew me to see the film.

A.C.A.B the film centers on the exploits of small group of riot police in Rome.I found it to be very well paced, realistic though budgetary constraints made the riot scenes seem a little under populated. The characters were well developed and the action scenes well directed.

There was a lot of racism in the film and the direction is kind of ambivalent about it.

To conclude I would urge you to watch this film and form you own opinion.