 THE FILM
***** 2009 ANNECY FESTIVAL *****
CINEMA ITALIEN
Audience Award "BEST FILM"
"PUBLIC’S CHOICE"
***** VILLERUPT ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL*****
"OFFICIAL SELECTION"
***** MARSEILLLE ITALIAN CINEMA WEEK *****
"OFFICIAL SELECTION"
THE CRITICS
RAOUL BOVA IS "THE COP"... AN "INSIDE" FILM an "inside" film. Inside the reality that everyone knows exists, but no one wants to talk about. Inside the world of drugs, and the world of those dedicated cops who still go on the streets to fight dealing. Inside the colder and colder relationships between parents and children, inside the disillusionment, the pain that has to be suffered before finding hope...Inside that teenager’s room..."
STRONG AND EFFECTIVE HUMANITY... WORTHY "The film expresses the humanity of real-life professionals working in the field strongly and effectively... film is motivated by a worthy spirit..."
BURCHIELLI FILMS, TRACKS, CAPTURES... "Roberto Burchielli, the best director at making "real movies", puts actor Raoul Bova side-by-side true police from Milan’s special squad... The director films, tracks, captures, edits this reality to make a good thriller..."
PRAISE FOR BOVA... A RELEVANT ORIGINAL FILM "Good motivations and good results for Raoul Bova who had the idea for a very relevant and original film. It mixes public and private... cine-vérité and fantasy... an experiment in ethics, cinema, life... Bova’s talent, passion, and abnegation deserve sincere praise..."
UNIQUE SCENES TO PALPITATING SOUNDTRACK "The film’s real-life element is original... the true police actions on the streets against dealers... the night scenes of the real special patrol, frenetically filmed by cameras and equipment of the latest generation, a palpitating soundtrack.The night raids outside clubs where dealers and customers are tracked with sophisticated equipment, filmed, recorded, caught in the act..."
DANGEROUS"... ORIGINAL... SHARP-EDGED... "a film that ’dangerously’ mixes fiction that seems fiction, fiction that seems true, the documentary shown as true (the police operations), and also as disguised as false... Bova as actor is total and convincing... original, sharp-edged..."
COURAGEOUS... "the idea is simple, but new and courageous..." POWERFUL... "powervful film that talks about the world of drugs, about who uses them, and who deals them..."
A STORY SET BETWEEN DEATH AND BIRTH... RAOUL BOVA OUTSTANDING... RELENTLESS "Handheld camera, hammering rhythms, the skillful alternation of real people and characters... fiction immersed in real-life... indisputably original... Raoul Bova is outstanding... with studied measure... relentless..."
DRAMATIC AND SUGGESTIVE "Raoul Bova in his most dramatic role ever... Director Roberto Burchielli succeeds in rendering the scenes of chases, contacts, arrests... dramatic... night scenes suggestive..."
FEVERISH, ANXIETY-INDUCING, TERRIBLY REALISTIC...
BURCHIELLI’S PORTRAITS WITHOUT EMBELLISHMENT OR EXALTATION...
"... ’THE COP’ is successful with its spare journalistic style, real-life events... non–pedagogical yet convincing tone... Director Roberto Burchielli’s portraits of six real-life policemen who belong to the special anti-narco squad are without embellishment or exaltation... The pace is feverish, anxiety-inducing, terribly realistic... Bova gives a very convincing performance."
A VEHEMENTLY INNOVATIVE FILM... "Top performance by Raoul Bova and extraordinary return by Burchielli to the flowingly aggressive language of John Cassavetes... A vehemently innovative film... a film that goes beyond the sociological documentary to become the wavering of the soul, shock and horror, indignation and... finally, new hope in life..."
"TWO STRONG POINTS: EMOTIONAL INVOLVEMENT AND SOCIAL MESSAGE..."
TERRIFYINGLY RELEVANT THEME... THRILLER PACE "The emotions of a harsh and intense film... ’THE COP’... characterized by a terrifyingly relevant theme, thriller pace, raw editing, the sensitivity of its human story... the effective mix of fiction and reality... Raoul Bova, impassioned and convincing... between a father’s pain and a journalist’s thirst for truth..."
In this unique feature, all sequences of the special anti-narco squad’s actions were filmed live in real undercover operations. To participate, Raoul Bova lived a month with members of the elite task force. "THE COP" thus creates a totally innovative cinematic language. Documented reality interacts and drives a story delivered by a cast of fine actors in total on-the-spot improvisation. The public lives first-hand an unforgettable, revealing and very moving experience.
STORY
The successful television journalist Matteo Gatti is determined to investigate the death of his teenage son when he learns that the boy has died of drugs. The father, known as an aggressive, committed reporter, enters into contact with agents of an elite police force, a special anti-narco squad specially trained to fight drug trafficking. Gatti infiltrates the milieu and joins the police in some of their undercover operations.
As a father, Matteo is above all desperately seeking to comprehend his son’s death and find out who is responsible. Perhaps it is also his way of facing the tormenting belief that somehow, as a failed parent, he had let his son down.
Totally unsuspecting and unprepared for the world that awaits, Gatti slowly descends into the daily reality of a living hell. Shocked, stunned, and physically repulsed, he is nevertheless drawn into every harsh and tragic aspect of the phenomenon. He is soon struck by the magnitude of the drug problem and how rapidly and dramatically it has spread, sweeping across all social barriers to destroy thousands of young lives at an ever earlier age.
Yet, with each passing day, Gatti also discovers the extraordinary "ordinary" lives of each member of the squad. He sees these "everyday heroes" ready to risk their lives daily as a part of their normal duty. He admires their simple dedication in facing the violence of crime to save just one more young victim who falls prey to its corruption.
PRODUCTION NOTE
The feature film "THE COP" ("SBIRRI") was the fruit of the commitment and determination of Roberto Burchielli, Chiara Giordano and Raoul Bova. Their desire was to recount the true stories of today’s heroes. Real-life heroes who still exist, who truly fight crime every day. Raoul Bova, in the role of the aggressive reporter Matteo Gatti, was authorized by the Ministry of Interior to enter the ranks of the courageous special anti-drug squad of Milan. The aim was to reveal the social poison... polluting the world: drug dealing. The film’s innovative element is its unique mix of reality and fiction: the story develops on two different planes that skillfully interact. The "fiction" part reveals the tragedy lived by Matteo (unfortunately one that is shared by many parents). This is introduced into the real and true documented scenes filmed live, without continuity between them. They show the activity and personal experiences of members of the special anti-narco squad. The main objective of the film was to deliver the gripping human stories of these extraordinary people: the men and women in a special police force who each day risk their lives, distinguishing themselves by their competence, intelligence, humanity and integrity. The aim of "THE COP" was to propose these heroes as new constructive models for young people. It also hoped to help parents penetrate this obscure and confused world, one that their children might approach, see, but also in which they might dramatically lose themselves. "THE COP" proposes a new cinematic language of great visual and emotional impact, to confirm how reality can be a thousand times more powerful than fiction.
CAST
Matteo Gatti
Raoul Bova
Luca Martani
Luca Angeletti
Sveva Gatti
Simonetta Solder
Marco Gatti
Alessandro Sperduti
directed by
Roberto Burchielli
story by
Roberto Burchielli
screenplay
Roberto Burchielli
Duccio Camerini
story editors
Chiara Giordano
Mauro Parissone
Federico Taddia
art director
Stefano Giambanco
costumes
Stefano Giovani (A.S.C)
music
Fabrizio Lamberti
editor
Elvis Millesi
Alessandro Paseri
director of photography
Gigi Martinucci
RTI production coordinator
Tina Pellegrino
executive producers
Raoul Bova
Chiara Giordano
for SANMARCO
in collaboration with
Mauro Parissone
Laura Guglielmetti
for H24FILM
with special thanks to the
Ministry of the Interior
the Milan Special Squad
and Anti-Drug (U.O.C.D.) Section
(Unità Operativa Criminalità Diffusa)
credits not contractual
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
The making of "THE COP" required the use of state-of-the-art equipment of the most recent generation. This enabled us to work quickly in high-risk actions. All scenes were shot in high definition, with special high-resolution cameras, even at many kilometers’ distance and in any type of light. For sound, directional microphones were used of the kind that serve the secret services. Everything possible was done to give the viewer the sensation of always being right beside our characters, experiencing everything they did. We wanted to tell a story relevant today, in a real way. It had to be a true feature, but with the authoritativeness and credibility that often only documentaries achieve. So, we decided to lead all of our viewers inside reality. Other films have spoken about the world of drug dealing, but we wanted to have people live it for themselves first-hand. How? In the same way that Raoul Bova did. He was our protagonist, and lived for a month with the police of the anti-narco drug squad of Milan. This was the greatest challenge: an actor up against reality. He would have to create his character second by second, breath by breath. The film crew had to become completely invisible, an intangible presence, in order to faithfully record all the events without altering them. I can assure viewers that everything they live in the film, we also lived ourselves. Another challenge was to integrate the fiction and reality parts so they became one. We, and all the cast, decided to work on improvisation. Each actor had to delve deep into his soul to seize those emotions his character was living. This was very difficult, it was sometimes a painful process, and it was an experience that brought us all closer together.
ROBERTO BURCHIELLI
PRODUCER’S NOTE
GENESIS OF "THE COP"
The idea for "THE COP" ("SBIRRI") was sparked by the ’dream’ of Chiara Giordano and Raoul Bova to join together on a new and unique project. They wanted to make a film that would be popular, from various points of view, but that would also create a new cinematic language. “After so many films and experiences, said Bova, perhaps I was looking for something more, something that, on the artistic level, would give me a special feeling, and where I could also participate on the production level. I wanted to make a film with social value, one that would tell real stories in a real way. In many of my films I play heroes, and they are often unknown heroes, or at least those whose importance is not recognized. They are hidden heroes who stay slightly in the shadows, normal everyday heroes. Just like the members of the special anti-narco squad in the film. For their tremendous efforts, they have the satisfaction of knowing they have done something for others."
Chiara Giordano: “One evening I saw a film on the Milan special anti-drug squad and it made a great impression on me. I decided to find the director and have him meet Raoul – they just had to do something together. I showed Raoul the film and said: "This is the director you’re looking for!" Roberto Burchielli immediately came to meet Raoul and Chiara in Rome. From this encounter, "THE COP" was born. Chiara added: “We thought about our need for an actor who could become part of the reality of that world, who could join the undercover police, in their cars, on the streets, in clubs, as they searched for dealers and arrested them. A courageous person who was ready to put himself on the line." "When Raoul said ’I can do it..." so confidently and enthusiastically, I didn’t hesitate a minute, said Burchielli. "In less than a month, we were already in Milan ready to shoot. "
HIDDEN HEROES
Chiara told us of her impressions and first-hand experience with members of the special anti-narco squad: “We know they are on the streets, but to see and experience them and their work the way we did during the filming was very moving. It was beautiful to see their simplicity, their passion. They believe in their work, they give themselves totally to it, suffer, and also do so much good. I can honesty say that as a mother, it was reassuring to know that they were there, knowing that one day my children too might have some true and real examples on the streets to follow too".
“They are very solid and human people" added Raoul. You can see this in how they treat the people they arrest, with respect, humanity, sensitivity. For them, their work is a passion, a mission, above all else. The policeman Angelo is an artist who paints beautifully, Paolo used to be a cook, and Simone was a boxing coach. The title "THE COP" is meant to be a little ironic. It is precisely the kind of image particularly the younger generation have of the police".
SCREENPLAY
The screenplay of "THE COP" was developed while shooting. Raoul Bova: “We knew that we had to get from one point to another. The individual scenes, the individual dialogues, and some of the situations, were created as we filmed. They were all situations that had to be open to improvisation. I was really nervous in the beginning, I was afraid of what the squad were going to think. Something like: ’This actor guy here, who wants to make a film, who does he think he is...?’" But as soon as we looked each other in the eyes – like animals that instantly recognize each other – there was a tremendous feeling of trust, truth, honesty. I didn’t judge them, and they didn’t judge me. This is also part of the power of the film since it was all so natural, as if the camera didn’t even exist. In fact, this was really what the film was all about: truth, and being totally in reality". Burchielli: “I honestly never saw an actor identify himself so well with his character and create such strong emotions as Raoul. In the film, there was also a scene in which Bova is sick, right after a dealer is arrested. Bova participated in the action with the squad, and this is exactly what happened." Bova: “And they filmed that too!... my adrenaline went crazy, it was a like a fist in the stomach".
IMPACT
"THE COP" is a film that speaks for itself, it makes you realize so many things, it helps you see things critically, without banal silly phrases... What is worth more than a thousand words, for example, is to see kids getting stopped, an arrest. They are definitely in bad shape, above all, in bad shape since they have to face themselves. People must wake up, parents have to truly comprehend the reality in which their children live. We cannot always think that the shocking things in the news are just marginal events that have nothing to do with reality. It is not enough to just be surprised to hear a boy of 10 already smokes marijuana or sniffs cocaine. Unfortunately, that’s how it is... We realized this while making "THE COP". This is truly today’s reality.
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