ACAB: All Cops Are Bastards

Cobra, Negro and Mazinga are riot police in Rome, veterans of the Celere, worn down by years of stadiums, evictions and street battles. Each has a life falling apart at home. Negro is losing his daughter in a bitter separation. Mazinga, injured on duty, has a teenage son drifting towards the far right. Cobra is facing trial for beating a football fan. Then a young recruit, Adriano, joins the unit. They take him in like a little brother, and he begins to see what that brotherhood costs.

This was Stefano Sollima's first feature, after the Romanzo Criminale series, and it is the opening chapter of what became his Rome crime trilogy with Suburra and Adagio. Adapted from Carlo Bonini's book, it is built around real events: the killing of the policeman Filippo Raciti, the death of the Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri, the shadow of Genoa. Pierfrancesco Favino is magnetic as Cobra, the unit's self-appointed father, and Marco Giallini and Filippo Nigro make the other two men feel lived-in and bruised.

What makes it uncomfortable, and good, is that Sollima refuses to give you a clean position. These men are violent, racist at times, and loyal to each other above the law. They are also exhausted, used by the state and thrown at every crisis no one else wants to handle. The film does not excuse them, but it does not let you look away either. Raw, loud, and angry. A portrait of a country through the people it sends to hold the line.