Any football fan will be familiar with the rise of the Ultras, now spread across Europe, but their heart is most definitely Italian. This luke warm and shallow depiction of the Napoli faction skipped over part of what unites them, we get the football but not the fascism.
Without the politics included all we get is the mundane nature of the thug. Drugs, beer, girls & machismo. They might as well be bikers.
Although we get a glimpse of the famous Italian banner culture no one watching would know that they're regimental flags that must be protected at all costs. It's a matter of honour so the burnt banner incident lost all of its importance and fails to explain why it could cause a split in the ranks.
I understand why the producers avoided the politics, the Ultras will kill you, especially Napolli, they're caught up on that old lie of honour & respect with a dash of omerta.
These are Neo Nazi thugs, no more, no less. We're not even shown their various Nazi salutes or get to hear their 'patriotic' songs.
The acting is excellent, the locations spot on, but the story and dialogue is a bland two dimensional moral tale that violence begets violence.
One day maybe someone will have the courage to make an accurate film about the Ultas and their various campaigns of racial terror, intimidation and extortion? At the moment is seems not.
Review of Ultras
