Netflix subscribers may have noticed that the streamer has become a premiere destination for foreign language thrillers in recent years, with many European projects taking up the top positions on the popular streaming charts. The latest entrant into this category is an Italian crime drama by the name of Public Disorder, which centers on a team of conflicted riot cops who navigate the complex relationship between their relationship to the public and their tense role in society. The Netflix original series, which spans a total of 6 episodes, launched on Jan. 15, and adapts the shocking tale first outlined in Carlo Bonini’s 2009 novel, “ACAB.” Since the series has been picking up so much steam lately, it only makes sense that we explore the tense themes, characters and plot developments of Public Disorder before walking through the series’ stunning ending.
As you can likely imagine, the following write-up will be rife with spoilers, so please feel free to bookmark this page and return later if you’re not finished watching through all six episodes just yet. The series offers a complex and open ended conclusion, meaning there are many possible ways to interpret the final outcome and plenty of fan theories floating around regarding what to expect from the future of the franchise. It should also be noted that Public Disorder deals with themes of sexual violence, making it a potential trigger for some audiences.
Is ‘Public Disorder’ a True Story?
Though the series feels very grounded, Public Disorder is not actually based on any true events. Even still, the series does an excellent job adapting its narrative from real life archetypes which we have seen in the news media time and time again, resulting in an ensemble of characters who feel very genuine. As stated, Public Disorder is based on a 2009 novel called “ACAB.” The novel was also adapted into a feature film back in 2012, though the movie does not share continuity with the new series.
The acronym ACAB, which stands for “all cops are bastards,” has become an extremely common and popular refrain in the last five years or so, especially in the wake of numerous police-related homicides of unarmed Black civilians in the United States. As such, the series feels extremely relatable to an audience of exhausted Netflix subscribers who have seen the horrors of modern policing from all corners of the political spectrum.
What Happens in ‘Public Disorder’?
Public Disorder centers on a gang of police officers operating in Susa Valley, Italy. The riot police, known as the Mobile Unit, face adversity from all angles, as they navigate crooked colleagues, an anti-police social movement and a series of public demonstrations which escalate into unbridled violence. The main cast also see a variety of personal struggles in their lives, which impact their families, relationships and futures. When we first meet our core cast of cops, they are being led by an officer named Pietro, who struggles to handle a police blockade against violent civilian protestors. Early on in the series, Pietro is seriously injured by the crowd, requiring an airlift to a local hospital. This infuriates the other police, especially Mazinga, who takes on command in Pietro’s absence.
In the heat of the moment, Mazinga and his troops launch an all out assault on the public, beating them senseless with batons and intentionally obfuscating their body cams in order to avoid repercussions from any ensuing investigation. To the audience, it seems like this is the kind of thing that these cops do semi-often, as they seem completely numb to the suffering of others and pleas for help. Even still, the gang take action in the aftermath of the brutality to get their stories straight, bleach the batons and mount a coverup of the entire affair. Despite their best efforts to keep things under wraps, an investigation ultimately does kick off after it’s discovered that one of the protestors has fallen into a medically induced coma and is expected to die as a result of his injuries.
Corruption Spreads Through the Force
As an internal affairs investigation begins, the entire crew maintain their silence. This includes Mazinga, as well as young and headstrong Salvo, anxious Florence and Marta, the only woman on the force. Mazinga believes that Marta is the weak link in the chain due to his own latent sexism, though Salvo has Florence pegged as the most likely to flip. Either way, the gang seem to move effectively as a unit while covering for their crimes, especially when they learn that a cop named Michele Nobili is being transferred into their precinct. Michele was previously run out of his last squad when he agreed to testify on his peers in a police brutality trial. While this made him something of a hero to the public, it makes him radioactive to his fellow cops, who view themselves as a different class of human to their fellow man.
Internal affairs demand that Michele take Pietro’s place as head of Mazinga’s unit, since they believe that he is an unimpeachable officer. This infuriates the squad and causes them to flout their newfound leader’s authority at every turn. Michele is subject to hazing, harassment and even an inter-office petition to force him to resign or transfer out. To make matters worse, Michele begins to see horrors unfold in his personal life, including an instance where his young daughter is sexually assaulted. His daughter reports the assault with haste, though Michele notes that cases like this one are notoriously difficult to convict and grapples with the harsh truth that his daughter’s attacker will probably be free to continue harming women at his leisure.
Mazinga’s Change of Heart
Though Mazinga is shown to be one of the most violent and unrepentant cops throughout the early episodes of Public Disorder, he is quite shaken after seeing Michele navigate the tragic situation with his daughter. He ultimately decides to quit the force, as he feels that he’s simply not cut out for the brutal life that police officers face. In order to present his own skewed version of justice, he offers up clear body cam footage of his savage attack on the protestors to Michele, and tells him that he can turn the footage over to internal affairs if he pleases. In a shocking turn of events, however, Michele throws the footage away, and agrees to cover up the violence for his team. As it turns out, he isn’t as unimpeachable as previously thought, given that his experience with his daughter has harmed his view of the public.
Michele isn’t content to just destroy evidence of police misconduct either – he actively engages in it. Before he can even attempt to have his daughter’s attacker hauled in on official charges, Michele stalks the boy in the middle of the night, and eventually orders Salvo to snatch him off the street. Together, Salvo and Michele take the violent criminal to a storage unit, tie him up and beat him within an inch of his life for hours at a time. Though the boy deserved repercussions for his actions, the police didn’t even attempt to go through the proper channels before doling out their own form of crooked punishment. The entire situation finally allows the rest of the crew to accept Michele as one of their own, though Mazinga still feels wracked with guilt and wishes to confess.
How Does ‘Public Disorder’ End?
Once Michele destroys the body cam footage, it seems as though the department is in the clear, as internal investigations have nothing to strengthen their case. As we come to find out, Marta was actually the one responsible for beating the man so bad that he fell into the coma, which comes as a great surprise to Mazinga when he queries the group. Mazinga reveals that he’d like to take the entire wrap for the squad, as a means of separating himself from policing and also easing his guilty conscience. Though you may expect that the officers would view him as a rat or a traitor for taking this route, they actually laud Mazinga’s willingness to fall on his sword for them, effectively absolving Marta and the others from facing any responsibility.
Unfortunately, right before he’s ready to turn himself in, Franco (the civilian), dies in the hospital. This incident stirs up the public into a massive fervor, sending droves of protestors out into the streets to battle with the local police. This civil unrest is eerily prescient in a post-George Floyd society, as it shows that the consequences of police brutality are wide-spanning and detrimental to the entire community. As members of the public attack the squad, Mazinga and company are forced to retreat into an underground network of tunnels. While down there, he panics at the thought of getting torn apart by the mob and suffers a massive heart attack. The series cuts abruptly to black before we can find out the fate of Mazinga, leaving the entire story up to your own interpretation.
‘Public Disorder’ Ending Explained and Analysis
Public Disorder does an excellent job of showcasing the inherent inhumanity of modern policing. The show manages to walk a fine line, by establishing that police officers do see the worst of society on a regular basis, and do face a great deal of stress. Still, the show makes it explicitly clear that the stress of the job is no excuse for abusing your power and harming innocent people. This is best explored by Michele’s skewed moral compass. At first, everybody believes that Michele is a turncoat, because he sided with justice instead of police misconduct at his old precinct. Clearly, the officers depicted in the show have bought into a misguided and unethical worldview that paints police officers as an untouchable gang, able to act with impunity. The officers don’t seem to have any apprehension that their actions often make them worse than the criminals they fight against.
Of course, not all victims of the riot cops are innocent, as displayed by Michele and Salvo’s brutal attack on the man who assaulted the former’s daughter. Even still, the criminal justice system simply cannot function if every evil action is followed up with violent vigilante justice from a corrupt police force. Would these officers be willing to expend this same amount of time, effort, energy and care for every sexual assault in the city, or just those that impact them personally? Furthermore, what would these cops do to one of their own if they found out that a police officer had been sexually assaulting civilians? Would they cover up the crimes like they do with other acts of brutality, or submit to being seen as a “rat” by other officers for the rest of their lives?
Will There Be a ‘Public Disorder’ Season 2?
For now, there’s no way of knowing if Netflix will renew the series for a second season. As it currently stands, the show does an excellent job sticking the landing, by leaving the audience in suspense about the future of Mazingo’s condition and the precinct. At this time, the streamer has not announced any plan to bring Public Disorder back, though the execs at Netflix may feel forced to do so if the series brings in massive streaming numbers.
