The story of Frank Serpico is part heroic, part tragic and part odyssey.
Serpico was a young policeman in New York in the sixties and early seventies. He saw widespread corruption in law enforcement (officers taking bribes, etc.) and his sense of honour and his moral code was offended. But his response did not stop there. He took action. He reported the moral decay he witnessed to his superiors and testified repeatedly to lawmakers to try to initiate change and reform. He stuck his neck out when many others who might be equally disturbed by the corruption around them would not have had the courage to do so.
And it cost him. Big time. Serpico was ostracized, his life was imperiled and the toll it took on him mentally and physically, was and continues to this day to be, siginificant.
This new documentary by Antonio D'Ambrosio attempts to show Frank Serpico, warts and all. Through extensive interviews with Serpico and former friends and colleagues (not to mention enemies) as well as clips from the Al Pacino Oscar-nominated film SERPICO, Serpico's epic journey from rookie to celebrity to chump to whistle blower to outcast and to celebrity is vividly conveyed, sometimes with alarming frankness. One hand-shaking, slap on the back reunion with a former colleague soon deteriorates into an uncomfortable trip down memory back lane when it becomes apparent that the former colleague of Serpico's was one of his detractors. And while it's all water under the bridge now, to this fellow's credit he doesn't back off from his criticisms of Serpico and his relentless drive to expose the New York Police Department as a den of corruption.
One excellent choice by director/producer/writer D'Ambrosio is his use of clips from the Pacino film. Why use re-enactments when you've got the scenes you want already intact, directed by no less a director than the great Sidney Lumet? Anything less than Lumet's gritty, '70's-era approach would have paled by comparison.
Where the film takes a tragic turn is when it becomes obvious that Frank Serpico's bull-headed integrity has taken a terrible toll on him. He truly suffers from PTSD and might even be seen to be a little crazy. D'Ambrosio wisely does not comment, but lets the viewer decide for himself if and how much Serpico is mentally disturbed by his experiences.
Was what Serpico did necessary? To him, yes. Was his approach the best? For him, yes. Was the cost to his physical and mental well-being too great? You decide.
When you live by the credo "Never run when you're right" it is bound to cost. Even when motivated by the unique type of stubborn moral integrity possessed by Frank Serpico, not everyone is going to admire what you do and how you do it. Very few of us could do what Frank Serpico did. Not everyone would want to. This outstanding film shows the rightness, the wrongness, and the everything in between-ness of the cost of personal integrity and morality.
Serpico was a young policeman in New York in the sixties and early seventies. He saw widespread corruption in law enforcement (officers taking bribes, etc.) and his sense of honour and his moral code was offended. But his response did not stop there. He took action. He reported the moral decay he witnessed to his superiors and testified repeatedly to lawmakers to try to initiate change and reform. He stuck his neck out when many others who might be equally disturbed by the corruption around them would not have had the courage to do so.
And it cost him. Big time. Serpico was ostracized, his life was imperiled and the toll it took on him mentally and physically, was and continues to this day to be, siginificant.
This new documentary by Antonio D'Ambrosio attempts to show Frank Serpico, warts and all. Through extensive interviews with Serpico and former friends and colleagues (not to mention enemies) as well as clips from the Al Pacino Oscar-nominated film SERPICO, Serpico's epic journey from rookie to celebrity to chump to whistle blower to outcast and to celebrity is vividly conveyed, sometimes with alarming frankness. One hand-shaking, slap on the back reunion with a former colleague soon deteriorates into an uncomfortable trip down memory back lane when it becomes apparent that the former colleague of Serpico's was one of his detractors. And while it's all water under the bridge now, to this fellow's credit he doesn't back off from his criticisms of Serpico and his relentless drive to expose the New York Police Department as a den of corruption.
One excellent choice by director/producer/writer D'Ambrosio is his use of clips from the Pacino film. Why use re-enactments when you've got the scenes you want already intact, directed by no less a director than the great Sidney Lumet? Anything less than Lumet's gritty, '70's-era approach would have paled by comparison.
Where the film takes a tragic turn is when it becomes obvious that Frank Serpico's bull-headed integrity has taken a terrible toll on him. He truly suffers from PTSD and might even be seen to be a little crazy. D'Ambrosio wisely does not comment, but lets the viewer decide for himself if and how much Serpico is mentally disturbed by his experiences.
Was what Serpico did necessary? To him, yes. Was his approach the best? For him, yes. Was the cost to his physical and mental well-being too great? You decide.
When you live by the credo "Never run when you're right" it is bound to cost. Even when motivated by the unique type of stubborn moral integrity possessed by Frank Serpico, not everyone is going to admire what you do and how you do it. Very few of us could do what Frank Serpico did. Not everyone would want to. This outstanding film shows the rightness, the wrongness, and the everything in between-ness of the cost of personal integrity and morality.