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

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.

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)

The story about four Cops (in italy the call them Celerini, As An insult) and A new rookie, they dream justice , and they'll do anything to get It. Sollima (director of the film Suburra,Sicario 2 ,and a new episodes of the series Gomorrah) made a Great work, he is able to direct violence and pulp scenes . The screenplay works well , Favino,Nigro and Giallini Aldo work well. Justin amazing(a).

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

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...)