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

I recently came across this movie. Looked it up, read some reviews and got more and more curious. Finally, this weekend, I actually watched A.C.A.B. and... well, I don't write much reviews, but decided to do so in this case. Why? Because while I was looking up this movie, I read really, really dumb, political oriented, crappy reviews. I guess left wing extremists love put down this movie, which is actually quite unfair. This is a small effort of mine in order to help the reader with a honest and simple review.

The movie is intended to be a slice of the lives of four Italian policemen, who belong to a special unit with the mission of controlling mobs. Three are veterans, one is a rookie. What we see are pieces of their lives, both on the job and at home. They all are have different experiences, and they all have serious personnel problems. The thing about showing the "slice of live" I mentioned is that the movie ends when it does, regardless of the stories reaching a conclusion. I say this because the movie could easily go on for quite longer, but the director ends it when he considers we have seen enough. Its fine, it adds to the realism, which it what is intended in the first place.

The cops portrayed in this film are sometimes excessive and tend to take matters into their own hands. What makes left wing extremists really mad is that, instead of showing cops as blood thirsty maniacs, the movie shows the context of their work and the environment they operate in. What the movie really shows is the deep, complex, problems hypocritical government policies produce.

It is an Italian film, the action goes on in Italy, but it could easily take place in most European countries with minor adjustments. Mine, Portugal, is a good example of that.

To make a long story short, it is a raw, honest portrait of police officers hard life, one that everyone with common sense ought to be able to understand and relate to. Not a big budget, not the best movie I've ever seen, but a hell of a nice one! I do recommend it!

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.

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)

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.

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