For anyone familiar with the well-known 1973 movie Serpico, starring the one and only Al Pacino, this documentary was a must-see at the Athens International Film Festival. Though Frank Serpico did not bring anything really new to the story we already knew, it offered a good insight to the man that Serpico was and still is.But who is Frank Serpico? During the 60's and early-70's Serpico was a New York policeman, honest, intact and incapable of not doing the right thing. He was the one cop -or at least the one who became famous (because let's just hope that there are other people like him out there) who stood against the system and exposed police corruption that was happening at the time. For that, he was hated by criminals and cops alike. And as he mentions to the camera, he still receives hate mail.
Because of him, the Knapp Commission started investigating the corruption and some months after he testified (not naming any names because he did not want to be considered a rat - not that they hadn't already given him the nickname), he was shot in the face during a drug raid. Luckily, he survived; however, after doing some digging-up he found out that the policemen who were with him had not called for an anbulance - the call had come, instead, by a civilian- and that still haunts Serpico to this day.
Having seen the homonymous film, I was quite familiar with his story: the almost hippie cop who lived in Greenwich Village with his shepard dog and wore necklaces and flipflops. But the truth is that the integrity of this man was what stood out during my viewing of Antonino D'Ambrosio's documentary. Here was a man who just wanted to do some good to his State, not accepting to be bribed because "why would he?" and ending up being constantly targeted.Nowadays, Serpico has retired from his job and the world; he wants to live calmly far from everyone and everything that is rotten and impure. He has seen the devil with his own eyes and regrets that mankind cannot change, especially if most cops believe they are the law and do not simply serve the law. Honestly, what else can he do?
It is apparent that his former colleagues' feelings have still not changed after all these years. When D'Ambrosio puts Serpico at the same table with Cesare (the cop who was with him when he got shot), there is no camaraderie between them, even 50 years later. Cesare diplomatically refuses to acknowledge the fact that nobody made the call for the shooting and keeps emphasising on the number of years that have passed, mentioning that all cases seem blurry now. He even accuses Serpico that even after what he did, the only ones who paid were the policemen. But Serpico has the answer to that: "I did not do it so that only cops will get the blame", he says. "How do you lock up the bosses?" To that, Cesare's response is simple: "I don't know. I didn't even try."Even if Serpico is stuck in the past, as one trauma psychologist claims, the truth is that, having seen so much rottenness and animosity towards what is logical, one can only question the direction humanity is following. So no one can blame Serpico for his persistence to prove himself right, or at least not crazy. He is a man who has gone through too much and has faced both enemies and the mania that came with his fame. He has been idolised and demonised. But with his documentary, D'Ambrosio achieves to humanize the legend that is Serpico and show us that so much can be changed when only one man stands up and says "no" .
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