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.

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 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!

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

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).