Sergio (dir. Greg Barker), 2020

Type the letters SER into your Netflix search bar. You know what won’t show up? Their new original film Sergio, a biopic starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura (Narcos, Elite Squad) and Cuban actress Ana de Armas (Knives Out). Moura, coupled with my desire for a 2020 release, is the reason I went to the trouble of finding the film (yes, finding the film on Netflix can be described as a struggle of sorts) as he might be my favorite actor and has been on hiatus since the end of Narcos season two, more or less. Perhaps the fact that Netflix hid Sergio should have been a warning. After all, this is a company that will promote anything and everything (remember Insatiable?). The thing is, Sergio isn’t bad. The fim itself is fine without really elevating itself to being great. The biggest flaw is not having much direction or identity.

I first thought to myself “maybe this is because it falls to the biopic tropes.” The biopic genre is one that turns me into a raging hypocrite each year. You see, I complain about how much I hate biopics like Darkest Hour, while in the same year rank I, Tonya as one of my favorite films. I guess the best way to describe my relationship with biopics is love-hate because several of my favorite films fall into the genre (Amadeus, Silence, and Gorillas in the Mist to name a few). I often say I hate your standard biopic, though I’m not sure how I can describe the difference between a biopic I loathe, Bohemian Rhapsody, and one I love, A Private War, aside from taking into account the direction, writing, acting, and other filmmaking elements. Over the last year, I think I have finally learned I do not hate the biopic, I just often hate those who make them. Unfortunately, Sergio falls somewhere in between love and hate. The film is fine, but nothing differentiates the film from its counterparts in a meaningful way, which is almost a bigger crime than merely being bad.

Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a United Nations diplomat from Brazil whose distinguished career spanned decades and included working toward peace with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and successfully brokering independence for East Timor. His final mission was working in Iraq following the United States occupation in 2003, which is where the film begins before progressing into flashbacks of his life with his Argentine partner, Carolina Larriera. For much of the film, Sergio is buried under rubble and fighting for his life. The Canal Hotel, where the UN was headquartered in Baghdad, was the site of a truck bombing in August 2003. Flashbacks at first center on his arrival to Iraq and attempts to distance the UN from the US military policies and the gentle balance of disagreeing with US occupation while trying to stroke the American ego. Then, a majority of the film is spent covering his career, charisma, and ultimately his romance with Larriera. Do I want to be more specific? Not really, because Sergio reads like a Wikipedia article in motion and one would be better off heading there.

Ultimately, this film has enough great elements to annoy me. A mediocre script sometimes can be saved with good direction, but the direction just isn’t strong enough. Moura and De Armas have the charisma and chemistry to give depth and realism to their characters, but it doesn’t amount to much with such muddled writing. During quarantine, there is a bit of a cultural void with theaters closed and musicians delaying their releases. Sergio is a justifiable release during this period and worth the watch if new content is desirable. Had it been released any other time, perhaps it rightfully would have been condemned to the proverbial Netflix attic...