User reviews

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.

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).

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.

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.

At least those riot control force policemen who are daily "cleansing" stadiums from Ultras, public demonstrations, evictions etc - as we see in this realistic Italian film. It seems that the European Union is so afraid on potential police violence and brutality that member state police units have very limited rights even if they are attacked or mocked (unlike in the U.S., for example). The result is aggregated tensions, injured policemen, problems at home, attitude change and other elements the police could/should be deprived of.

The plot is somewhat documentary, resulting in a kind of aridity, fast frame interlace and hectic course of events. The cast seems strong as well, although all the actors apart from Pierfrancesco Favino (as Cobra) were unfamiliar to me. I can't say I enjoyed the film, but I liked it more than similar films made e.g. in Latin America where strong visibility of poverty and violence is too tough to follow. And finally, I am no fan of football, thus I would have a plain solution to the stadium fights...

I rate this movie with a seven because of the good acting and an easy-to-follow story. For the haters it's not a documentary but a fictional movie even though there are some scenes described from real facts, like the news stories on the television and radio, and the G8 in Genoa. The movie can't please anybody apparently, not from right wing or left wing sides. I'm a left wing and even if this movie has a lot of racism in it, and a lot of free aggression from the riot police, I still think it is an enjoyable movie to watch. There are some scenes that don't seem realistic like some football riots because there are way not enough extras available in those scenes. It's most definitely a budgetary problem but it would have been better with more hooligans and police. I've seen a lot of football violence in my life and in this movie it's just a bit simplistic. First of all the riot police are just thugs, way worse than the so-called hooligans. I've seen innocents being beaten up by those bastards plenty of times. So in that the movie is quite accurate, the excessive violence they use most of the times. There was also a lot of racism in ACAB and that's also quite accurate in modern society, where if you're an immigrant you're almost immediately being associated as a bad person, while the truth is far away from that. All honest immigrants pay the price of a minority of thugs among them. But those thugs as well as the racists are basically just the same, some selfish ignorant and greedy bastards. So all in all the movie is pleasant to watch, it's well done with the budget they have. The cast is also good. In an ideal world the police should protect and serve the population, but we're not living in an ideal world, and there are daily proofs of police brutality against the weak. Police brutality that never get punished. Police protecting civilians but who protects us from thug police? The time that being a police officer was about respect is long gone. Almost nobody has respect for the police anymore and in my eyes it's really justified. All Cops Are Bastards.

ACAB is an Italian movie of 2012, based on real events and directed by Stefano Sollima; of great impact and with excellent characters. ACAB deals with issues often overlooked or uncomfortable, such as: the abuse of power by law enforcement and the difficult working conditions of the "celerini" (police riot police unit), especially from an emotional point of view. The movie is enriched by actors such as: Pierfrancesco Favino and Marco Giallini, good action scenes and themes dealt with efficiently. But there are some significant flaws: the audio sector is quite poor and does not allow you to listen to all the dialogues in the best way (all aggravated by the fact that the actors speak using the dialect), in addition the script is not "the best" and in the plot there is no real antagonist. All in all, it remains a good movie, above all for being a product of Italian cinema. Goodbye and see you next review...

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...)

Though it's not propaganda, given that it's not a government body trying to influence people toward their way of thinking - it's certainly the commercial equivalent. This movie is not an honest depiction of police in Italy. The beatings and killings get worse, and the accountability gets less. This is because over and over again, the brutal thugs - unhappy about themselves & their lives, take out their frustrations & self loathing on the public: those they're supposed to protect - have become untouchable.

Yes, without doubt they are a tiny minority. The vast majority of cops do not engage in such brutal behavior. BUT - they will arrest those who're beaten, and help cover up assaults and even killings. They turn the other cheek when they see their thug brethren having their fun & getting their therapy. The 'good' cops do not report what they see - in fact they actively ensure that such behavior goes unreported. And they wonder why the public distrusts and despises them more every day? Do they really believe their dishonesty is believable? This is an extremely serious issue, in Italy and most western countries around the world, as corporations move to strike down democracy, & police are given free reign to brutalize those who don't like it.

Yet a film like this seeks to diminish all that. Cops are the real victims, not the public. Utter hogwash, of course, and yet a further sign that police around the world have become gang and cult-like: it's them against the world. They have more in common with a cop from the other side of the world than they do their neighbors. They've separated themselves from communities, and now they seek to change how they're seen. Not by engaging with those they have power over in a positive way, but by pretending to be victims. This movies seeks to achieve that dubious perception - and it's a real shame.

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

if you are a Nazi racist friend of cops this is a perfect movie to see. A racist propaganda about the riot cops.If this was a true story the violence would be way more.I think that watching this movie was a waste of energy.The cops are dogs of the government and they often collaborate with the fascists.They are brothers when it comes to violence against the working class and all the people who want to resist and fight for their rights and freedom.This movie insults me and i think all the people who have healthy way of thinking.If you choose and watch this film you should also watch the American History X who reveals the true nature of the racists.That kind of people usually becoming cops.

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!

Great title for the book and subsequent film . Is the film entertaining?. No, not in the least. Yes these guys are tough - always impartial and honest , of course not and yet as of many police forces world wide are used by politicians like a football. So the scene is set, a young rookie for ostensibly financial reasons joins an experienced hard core riot squad. Then virtually the whole movie gets bogged down in the protagonists domestic lives and all the trials and tribulations that entails. What a snooze fest. Isn't that what soap operas are for.

I personally don't feel the need to launch into some half baked political diatribe but clearly racial disharmony is a thread binding the film together with a couple of scenes attempting feebly to mimic American History X. ACAB is over-hyped and boring. Criminal.

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).

The film represents a distorted reality in which the Italian police have their hands tied .. decidedly deployed on their side without giving a full vision of the Italian reality

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)

This movie reminds me of Romanzo Criminale, the show authored by the director of this movie, another recounting of italian (Roman) criminal history. Both are very compelling, both work well to create a dramatic yet realistic depiction of "bad people"'s life. He doesn't ever fall into gratuitousness by making some character "the innocent guy entered into the wrong circle". Everyone has shades of darkness within, and everyone is also partially redeemable. The politics are mostly accurate in depicting the struggles of ultimately far-right policemen, men of order, men that want to exact justice and destroy all the bad apples of society, but ultimately become bad apples themselves: hated by the people (even by actual far right activists, funnily enough), ignored and treated as disposable by the government. Nobody really likes them, not even they themselves, they're stuck in the middle of a continuous war between a liberal indifferent system and the poor underbelly, the immigrants, the nazis, the hooligans. They're the focus on every blame, they're emotionally collectively isolated and they only have each other. It's a simple but effective narrative that doesn't "redeem" cops, but rather allows you to ponder the human face of the arm of the state, something that all extremists dehumanize. It's also very sad and depressing, the performances are great and really sell the pressure of the policemen's lives. The lighting and direction are very pale and minimal, which accompanies the subject matter pretty well. Overall, a very complete and engaging experience, a thought-provoking political drama that reaches a good equilibrium of poignancy and entertainment.