(Sep. 30, 2023 ● Oslin Pierrette)
I just wanted to be a good cop. Is that so hard to ask or to be, it’s damn near, or maybe it’s just impossible. That’s the story of Serpico. Who goes through insanity, an inescapable hell, in his constant attempts to be a good cop. The people that are supposed to be the saviors and heroes of society. Must adopt and develop to be a monster and a villain on the inside. You must destroy any common morality. Being a cop isn’t about good vs. evil. It’s about money and power, whoever has the money and power is “good”, that’s the currency. And if you don’t have that currency, you better walk on eggshells and stay out of the way of bullshit, don’t be an innocent victim or casualty to the corruption.
Serpico early on dealt with faults of the system. Cops trying to skip out on calls, out of laziness. Also weird handling of paperwork. He wanted to be a gold shield detective, and was going to put the absolute effort and work into accomplishing that. When trying to find guidance on finding the steps to accomplishing that, he was typically pointed to the bureaucratic abyss of nothingness, basically no real answers. Years of good straight police work, and no progress on that gold shield.
Then he runs into Bob, where he sees Bob is a gold shield. Serpico, deeply wanting that for himself, was very curious how he went about achieving that, especially when he achieved it under 4 years minimum in plain clothes that Serpico felt was the minimum. And Bob said his method was seeking a good network. Which was so disheartening to Serpico, because he felt if he did the right thing, good straight police work, it would work out for him. But got easily passed by the guy who played the network and politicking game.
Then the one that started the downward spiral for Serpico, taking money bribes. It was all held together by this cop honor code. This honor code enforces everyone to take part in the corruption. Serpico, in trying to report it, found out you become an enemy of the police department as a cop, if you don’t want to accept bribes. They have a snitch gang-like policy just like the thugs. Because they are thugs and gang members, they’re just protected by the judicial system, the police privilege.
Serpico just wants to do his job, but they’re busting his chops about it. He tries to transfer from department to department. He can’t outrun the corruption. It’s core issues within policing. He then tries to report the wrong doings. But he’s getting sent through the bureaucratic nightmare. He sent through all these different channels. And it’s all bullshit. Just another bureaucratic system of incompetence. He keeps going through all these different channels. And it’s taking months, and turning into years. And it just feels like this powerlessness. You can’t stop corruption, if every system is corrupted. You’re just supposed to join in. And that’s when Serpico tries to take justice into his own hands. Take it to the highest superiority he could. He finally gets connected, finally gets hope for change. Just to find out that the top level branches are in cahoots with the corruption.
They just want a stay silent system. That’s when you feel the true powerlessness in trying to end the endless cycle of corruption.
There are no checks and balances for the police and justice system. They check themselves. They “clean their own laundry”, but the laundry never gets clean, only dirtier and dirtier. And he sees the anger and wrath of his superior’s faces when he relays to them he’s been working with outside agencies in trying to combat the corruption. Serpico believes if they put all this energy and strategy into justice and being a good cop, then crime would be cleaned off the street instantly. No more than a month or week he believes. But he has to live this insanity cycle everyday. It’s taking a toll on his sanity trying to fix this system single handedly.
So why not quit. If it’s taking a heavy toll on you. If it’s affecting every area of your life. Why not just quit? The morality and reason not to quit, is the same reason I want to be a good cop. I want to live in a good, fair, just world. I couldn’t just live with myself, just quitting and creating a small bubble for self preservation for myself, when I know what I know. I can’t just quit on humanity. Someone has to stop it. There has to be change. This just led to darker nightmares.
It goes to the lows of whole departments picking on him, fully turning against him. Threatening him. All he’s doing is being a good cop, whatever that means. But he’s a by-the-book, straight-edge cop. And they treat him like he’s crossing the line, and breaking all the regulations. But there is no code or regulations for cops besides the cop honor code, code of blue solidarity. Where cops are saying don’t talk to Serpico, “he’s no good”. The Good Cop is simply no good in the eyes of the police system.
They set him up to get killed, especially when Serpico went to the press and grand jury. The cops had and the entire NYC police system had to get rid of the “Good Cop” so they could keep their system of corruption. Just another abuse of power in these societal systems. Being a cop is not about upholding justice. It’s just a privilege badge to use for your own self benefits. Especially with how much money this bribe deal was making. All these bad guys just pay a fee to stay in the streets. Creating a destructive world. The world we live in. We enable corruption, and destroy humanity. As long as it creates a benefit for a few of the self greed guys.
Sidney Lumet is one of the greatest filmmakers. I just love his film creating language. There’s such a beautiful naturalism to his work. That just slices and cuts through, this pure sincerity. And he and Al Pacino make such a good pairing. Another classic performance for Al. Also amazing wardrobe and design, one of his best characters. Very interesting one. I’m a Lumet fan. Always great dialogue, challenging the true forces against society.