“The Legionnaire” is a riveting topical drama “torn from today’s headlines” and set on the front lines of the global migration and housing crisis.

The plot is another cop must choose between “families” dilemma — his blood relatives versus his comrades in arms. But the novelty is in seeing racist Italy’s “immigrant problem” through the eyes of a riot cop of African descent who dons his helmet, gasmask and shield and does his job, evicting immigrant squatters. Until, that is, the squatters are his relatives.

Director Hleb Papou’s execution in telling that simple story is damned near flawless. It’s a sleek, lean and involving drama with thriller and melodramatic elements that make for smart, thoughtful entertainment.

The Legionnaires here are an elite riot squad which finds itself carrying out a lot of mass evictions all over Rome, where squatters from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa have taken up residence in otherwise abandoned buildings.

We meet police in dramatic fashion, a phalanx of club-weilding warriors in helmets and gas masks emerging from the smoke and fog of tear gas. At the end of a day’s eviction, they put down their billy clubs, take off their helmets and masks and ride back to the office — just another day’s work.

One helmet comes off and reveals their lone Black member. Daniel (Germano Gentile) is “Hot Chocolate” or “Hot Choc” (in Italian with English subtitles) to his mates. They depend on him and he depends on them.

They are disciplined, brawny men, ready to move as one and move mobs as they do. They’re trained to know how far they can go in doing what their jobs, goaded and prodded in their fight-off-rioters rehearsals in a boxing ring.

But Daniel, we quickly guess, has a few triggers to fend off. There’s racial ball-busting from his fellow squad members, but some of it has an edge. And God forbid you taunt at him about his “Mama.”

Daniel is one of them, fluent in Italian, with a wife (Ina Gjika) and baby on the way, and no other family, so he says.

They don’t know his mother (Félicité Mbezele) and agitator brother Patrick (Maurizio Bousso) have been squatting in this one high-rise that’s been “occupied” since the late 2000s. And they’re not quick to figure out that calls to evict those in San Giovanni often wind up with Daniel calling in sick.

The film is about Daniel’s struggles with all the different groups grabbing for his loyalty. The cops expect him to do his job, no questions asked. But he’s tipping his brother and mother about raids, even as he begs them to leave, to come stay with him, at least temporarily.

Patrick is an uncompromising idealist with a little boy and an ex (Hedy Krissane) about to move the child to Milan. He’s an organizer, keeping the building’s routine (residents police themselves, do their own repairs and keep the power on) and looking for political allies (communists and leftists who pass for “half communist) in their struggle.

And that ball-busting and good-natured race-baiting in Daniel’s squad should tip him off that there are plenty of members who wouldn’t hesitate to drop the N-word on him the way other Italians are fond of doing at soccer matches. All these disparate stresses are destined to come to a head.

The script, co-written by director Papou, Giuseppe Brigante and Emanuele Mochi, allows room for a few grace notes between the domestic struggles and scenes of strife. The power is cut-off, and the residents are at a loss as to how they can get it back on without going to jail.

A Polish priest sent “by the Holy Father” shows up, asks to see the junction box, and voila! That’s what a populist Pope will do for you — find a priest who used to be an electrician.

A rally at the residence includes an appearance by populist folk singer Ivan Talarico, whose people power patter tunes would pass muster with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez.

Some of the action is pre-ordained. We’ve seen lots of versions of this tug of war for a cop’s soul before, after all. “The Departed,” “Brooklyn’s Finest” and the recent TV series “Small Axe” come instantly to mind.

But “The Legionnaire” is fascinating in its details, moving in its understated performances and righteous in its treatment of a cop who puts humanity and family ahead of camaraderie and property rights.

Rating: unrated, violence, nudity, smoking, profanity

Cast: Germano Gentile, Maurizio Bousso, Marco Falaguasta, Hedy Krissane, Ina Gjika and Félicité Mbezele

Credits: Directed by Hleb Papou, scripted by Giuseppe Brigante, Emanuele Mochi and Hleb Papou. A Film Movement release.

Running time: 1:22