A hit when it was released in cinemas, “BAC Nord” is now available on Netflix for those who missed it. On this occasion, a look back at the true story behind the film and the controversies that followed.
Available for a few days on Netflix, BAC Nord quickly took its place in the top views of the platform. Cédric Jimenez’s film was a huge success when it was released in theaters in 2021, attracting more than 2.2 million spectators.
This supercharged police thriller co-written by Cédric Jimenez and Audrey Diwan, rated 4.2 out of 5, was even considered one of the best films of 2021 by AlloCiné spectators.
What is “BAC North”?
In the BAC Nord cast, we find François Civil, Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Karim Leklou, Kenza Fortas, Cyril Lecomte and Michaël Abiteboul, more involved than ever in this muscular immersion.
2012. The northern districts of Marseille hold a sad record: the area with the highest crime rate in France. Pushed by its hierarchy, the BAC Nord, a field brigade, is constantly seeking to improve its results. In a high-risk sector, the cops adapt their methods, sometimes crossing the yellow line. Until the day the legal system turns against them…
The true story behind “BAC Nord”
You should know that BAC Nord is freely inspired by a scandal, the so-called “BAC Nord” affair broke out and incriminated members of the anti-crime brigade of the Marseille city then designated as “rogues” and as ” an organized gang” which allegedly committed aggravated violence and extortion, as reported The world.
Jérôme MACE/Chifoumi Productions
These police officers from the BAC North of Marseille were the actors of a political-judicial media scandal aimed at cleaning up the police force which had been affected by “real gangrene” according to Jacques Dallest, the public prosecutor of Marseille at the time. .
Seven years later, the most serious charges were dropped and eighteen members of the BAC at the time were referred to criminal court for drug trafficking and group theft by a person holding public authority in the exercise of their duties. functions.
This story therefore caused a lot of noise at the time and Cédric Jimenez, originally from Marseille, was immediately interested in the facts. He was able to meet the real police officers at the heart of the scandal, who accompanied the technical team and actors throughout the conception of the film.
Jérôme MACE/Chifoumi Productions
Almost ten years after the revelation of the facts, the “BAC Nord” affair is still ongoing. Francetvinfo reported in 2021 that the Marseille criminal court had acquitted 7 police officers and sentenced the 11 others to suspended prison sentences, for theft of drugs, money and cigarettes.
There was ultimately to be a new appeal trial at the request of the prosecution to retry the police officers. This was ultimately not the case since in June 2022, the general prosecutor’s office decided that there would be no second trial and that the sentences and acquittals pronounced in first instance were validated, as revealed FranceBlue.
Since then, certain former police officers from the BAC Nord de Marseille have given their versions of the facts and expressed themselves in the media, as in Le Figarowhere Sébastien Soulé, a police officer at the heart of the Bac Nord scandal in Marseille, returned to the affair by explaining that he had told his story in a book entitled Cop at Bac Nordpublished in February 2024.
The film “BAC Nord” is available on Netflix.
