“ACAB - The Series”: Michele Alhaique tackles the theme of conflict and challenges distracted viewers
Six episodes inspired by the film of the same name by Stefano Sollima to tell the story of the friction between civil discontent and the police
The cast (Photo Netflix)
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The 2012 film by Stefano Sollima and its revolution that - in cinema as in TV series - led to tackling criminal Italy with a surprisingly realistic look, is the inspiration for the television series on Netflix “ACAB La serie”, produced by the Roman director and directed by Michele Alhaique , also remembered for his frequent appearances on the big and small screen.
As with the previous film version, maintaining the same rough and direct look, the show is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Carlo Bonin, with a cast that includes old and new faces including Adriano Giannini, Marco Giallini, Valentina Bellè, Julia Messina and Francesco Buttironi . Keeping intact the spirit of Sollima in filming and telling stories - which made the success of productions such as "Romanzo Criminale", "Gomorra" and "ZeroZeroZero" - "ACAB La serie" breaks down the limits of the mainstream product in six intense episodes, with an inverse approach that adapts the peculiarities of the crime genre to associate them with a bold and original point of view .
Eleven years after its cinematic counterpart, the show changes its perspective on social issues: without describing the world of ultras as it did in the past, the characters face new psychological mechanisms and conflicts that respond to the urgency of the present moment .
Once again, in “ACAB The Series” the friction between civil discontent and the police resurface. After a series of riots in Val di Susa during the No Tav protests, the Rome department's mobile squad will find itself without its leader who was seriously injured. The section of the group most inclined to punitive violence - which includes Mazinga, Marta and Salvatore - will have to adapt to the soft line of the substitute Michele Nobili, who, driven by his ideals, intends to establish a progressive approach and less subject to the use of the truncheon by the operational unit.
As explained by writer and screenwriter Carlo Bonini during the press preview, “ACAB The Series” focuses once again on conflicts, starting from the expression of human feelings such as anger and disorientation in a context of violence to promote a judgment outside of any alignment or preconception: “The conflicts have remained the same: they are universal themes that cross any democratic society. Like the monopoly of force. The idea of being able to explore this through a serial story was therefore interesting: to reverse the point of view. We wanted to deliver to the public a story that could question everyone's ideas. In 2008, when I wrote the book, the Italian police were recovering from the Diaz case in Genoa. Revisiting the police now, after a certain journey, but in a different political context, was fun”.
Speaking on this aspect in his role as executive producer, Stefano Sollima also wanted to underline the importance of a narration that does not lead to improper exploitation or clichés : “The focus is on the point of view of the story. We had to concentrate on the story of the characters, without ever judging them. You should never force the audience, but rather you have to accompany them, asking the right questions. And the more complicated the questions, the more a series works. And then the best aspect of ACAB is its topicality”.
After his directorial debut in 2014's "Without Mercy," Alhaique returns behind the camera with a result that, even in its elaborate composition, welcomes various types of audiences. A key point in the creative process was to create the right atmosphere, as he stated in a recent interview: "I wanted to recreate that dreamlike, deserted, and surreal atmosphere. New Year's Eve. With a reference to tense atmospheres, thinking in some ways of Carpenter's Precinct 13: The Death Brigades. And we invented the initial wait with the actors. An expectation of danger, for a circle that closes. I wanted to dilate that moment." And escaping the normal offerings of the streaming service with an unusual product, a sort of film divided into six episodes, the director revealed what distinguishes the series from the competition: "I work backwards. What attracts me is the mystery. And the series is structured to mark the mystery. Mystery is fundamental in the story. Today there is this tendency that vomits all the information, but this makes the story dry. Different, to make a story that is able to keep the attention high. How? Through mystery. A gigantic challenge, with a high risk of failure”.
