If the influx of plot spoon-feeding, cookie-cutter excuses for action movies on streaming platforms in recent years have left a bad taste in your mouth, then Netflix’s Rebel Ridge will work as a perfect palate cleanser and more. Aside from the fact that it is rare to have an action flick these days that builds suspense and tension so well, balances it with sleek combat choreography, and goes quite a length to delineate on the central crisis with a proper methodical approach, Rebel Ridge brings an unexpected narrative twist that adds depth to the movie’s commentary on morality. The identity of “Serpico,” a codename Terry Richmond uses for a whistleblower among the corrupt cops of the Shelby Springs police force, turns out to be thematically much more important than viewers might have initially assumed.
Spoilers Ahead
Significance of Serpico
Ex-marine Terry Richmond gets entangled in a devious ploy after locking horns with the police force of small-town Shelby Springs, and local court clerk Summer McBride finds her life and career threatened for assisting Terry. Pushed to a corner by the corrupt cops for trying to dig up their dirty deeds and, eventually realizing that there is no way back, Terry and Summer prepare to take a last stand. Summer mentions having a benefactor in the force, a friend of hers who has helped Summer in the past as well and, at present, has warned her to leave town as the cops are planning to eliminate her, knowing how close she is to figuring out their entire deplorable scheme. Summer doesn’t reveal the identity of the mole in the force just yet, and so Terry uses the codename Serpico to identify them.
Serpico acts as a reference to the former NYPD Detective Frank Serpico, who tried to expose the prevalent corruption in the force during the 1960s and 1970s and caught the ire of his crooked colleagues as a result, resulting in him getting grievously wounded in a planned murder attempt. The real-life exploits of Frank Serpico were chronicled by journalist Peter Maas in a biographical work, which was later adapted in the movie Serpico, where actor Al Pacino acted in the titular role of the straight-arrow detective. There has been a significant number of references and adaptations in various forms ever since, which basically canonized the name Serpico as a righteous whistleblower against institutionalized corruption. In Rebel Ridge, the codename also bears similar significance, which is revealed in an unexpected way.
How Did Serpico’s Identity Add Nuance To The Narrative?
The real identity of Serpico remains unknown till the final act of the movie, when Terry blasts his way into the Shelby Springs police station, targeting the ill-gotten money the force had seized through the years, and considers Officer Jessica Sims to be Serpico, the secret benefactor of Summer. The only black female police officer among the white racist cops in the force, Jessica was a bit understanding towards Terry the first time he orchestrated a hostage situation in the police station while retrieving Mike’s bail money, which had been unlawfully seized from him. Terry, a person of color himself, trusted Jessica more and concluded that she was Serpico as a result. However, contrary to Terry’s assessment, Jessica isn’t Serpico, as she uses Terry’s misplaced trust in her to take control of the situation, holds Terry at gunpoint, and allows the crooked Officer Steve to destroy the evidence Terry had kept with him. With Summer on the verge of death and Terry about to be eliminated at the hands of Steve, the real Serpico decides to reveal his identity as Officer Evan Marston stands against Steve and the rest of the force to save the lives of Terry and Summer. Terry never would have expected that the cop who illegally detained him and seized his money could be the whistleblower after all.
Punishing Marston for his moral stance, Chief Burnne puts a bullet in his leg, grievously injuring him—something rattles Jessica and a number of other cops in the station at once. Jessica had been a collaborator of the heinous syndicate the force has been running, but the fact that Chief Burnne only looks after himself and won’t hesitate to put down one of their own had never crossed her mind. Additionally, Marston’s heroic stance moved her, and the fact that Terry had expected something like that from her in the first place recalibrates Jessica’s moral compass. She no longer chooses to be an accessory to this filthy system. When all hope seems lost, Terry and co. are on the verge of getting detained by the Chief. Jessica is the one to ram the Chief’s SUV off the freeway, and following her lead, the cops, who also faced a moral dilemma ever since Burnne showed his true colors, decide to assist Terry in his gateway as they call the state police for intervention. They, and Jessica as well, are fully aware of the fact that their crooked scheme, which has been running for the last two years, will be exposed once Terry is able to take the evidence of dashcam footage to the state police, and the Shelby Springs police force will cease to exist as state police will take over. Despite that, for once, they choose to respect the vows they made as law enforcement officers, and how a simple codename, a mere expectation for justice, triggers a domino effect like this remains astounding to say the least.
