Public Disorder - Netflix Series

Public Disorder | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

Close up of a squad of riot police in Turin, Italy, watching them at work busting heads and at home dealing with the vicissitudes* modern life. We watched the first three episodes (roughly 45 minutes each) last night and they were pretty good.

Don't know if this squad ever does any regular police work, all we see is them going to war against violent protesters. First there's the protest against a new high-speed train, and then there's the football (soccer) hooligans. Doesn't seem to be a shortage of mayhem that needs to be contained, so there is plenty of work for these guys.

Besides riot control, the squad has plenty of internal problems, the first of which is the bureaucracy. During the first riot, their squad leader and a protester are severally injured. The squad leader is rendered paraplegic by an explosive thrown by a protester, and a protester falls into a coma after being beaten. The media blow up the story about the injured protester, and the bureaucrats predictably try to find someone to blame, but so far the cops are sticking to their story. Are the bureaucrats looking for the one who threw the bomb? No, they aren't, because that would make them enemies of the mob, and the mob is what put them in power.

Meanwhile, because of some undisclosed history, the replacement leader is treated with suspicion by the squad. Their first outing under the new leader is against the football hooligans and that is pretty much a disaster, although it's a little hard to tell who's to blame. The bureaucrats and the hooligans, from my point of view.

Then there are the squad's families and their problems. One woman is still fighting her ex-husband. He was a violent, abusive drunk, and ten years later she still hates him. He might have reformed, but he has not been forgiven. The replacement leader's daughter gets raped and boy-oh-boy, what a nightmare for that family.

Their third outing is the apparent simple job of escorting an immigrant and her two kids back to her state supplied apartment. Only problem is there is a crowd of 200 people between her and her front door. They manage to get her through the crowd and into her apartment, but the crowd is still there. She is reasonably afraid that once the police leave, they mob will attack and kill her. The bureaucrats maintain that the police have done their job and can now go home. The new squad leader refuses. Eventually, someone finds her a different place to live and the police escort her out. I think the new leader makes some points with the squad for this. We shall see.

I don't understand the attraction of mobs. I've been a few places where there were large numbers of people and the only time it was pleasant was when I was in a theater and everyone was sitting quietly. But then, there are a lot of things I don't understand. Like tattoos.

* vicissitudes of modern life. Heard that phrase somewhere and it stuck with me. Seemed like a good place to use it.