Butler's Cinema Scene

“ZeroZeroZero” My rating: B (Netflix)

Streaming services are awash with crime dramas, so it takes something new and different to grab my attention.

Netflix’s 8-hour miniseries “ZeroZeroZero” did just that. 

Filmed in Mexico, the U.S., Africa and Italy — not to mention on the high seas — this sprawling crime epic has the big feel and complexities reminiscent of author Don Winslow’s “Cartel” trilogy. We’re talking compelling (if often repugnant) characters, international sweep and a suspension of the usual moral niceties.

Not to mention some hair-raising action sequences.

Created by Leonardo Fasoli, Mauricio Katz and Stefano Sollima, the series follows a shipment of illegal drugs from Mexico, across the Atlantic, through North Africa and on to Calabria in the “boot” of Italy where crime families have been feuding and murdering for generations.

The instigator here is Don Minu (Adriano Chiaramida), a bearded patriarch who looks to be on his last legs but is in fact as ruthless and tough-minded as a thug half his age.  Don Minu places an order for a multi-million-dollar shipment of drugs…a stash so huge that it will change the power equation among Italy’s regional criminal syndicates.

The middleman is Edward Lynwood (Gabriel Byrne), a resident of New Orleans who puts together complex plans executed by his cooly efficient daughter Emma (Andrea Riseborough, giving Tilda Swinton some fierce competition in the weird androgyny department).  

Edward also has a son, Chris (Dane DeHaan), who has been kept out of the family business; the young man has inherited the genetic disorder that killed his mother and likely will never reach age 35.

Nevertheless, Chris will find himself accompanying his sister and the drug shipment (hidden in cans of vegetables) on their long journey. A newcomer to the world of crime, Chris is our guide (we learn as he does); moreover, he views this dangerous enterprise as a great adventure.  I mean, he’s going to die anyway in a few years, so what the hell?

Much of the effectiveness of “ZeroZeroZero” comes from the fact that the three directors (Janus Metz of Denmark, Pablo Trapero of Argentina and Stefano Sollima of Italy) bring a true international feel to the proceedings, with episodes set in different countries finding their own visual and narrative styles.

And there’s also a recurring gimmick at work.  Each episode begins with a hair-raising or disturbing moment; then the narrative skips back in time to show the events leading up to that moment. Curiously enough, this doesn’t wreak havoc on the narrative; if anything it makes it more compelling.

There are stories within stories here.  In Monterrey, Mexico, a member of an elite military unit (Harold Torres) goes rogue, building his own army of teenage killers and  declaring war on the drug cartels that run the city.  He’s not there to clean up Dodge but to seize all its illegal action for his movement.  A mix of ruthless violence, sexual inhibition and religious fanaticism (he attends a charismatic Protestant church), he is both fascinating and terrifying.

Back in Italy Don Minu’s grandson Stefano (Guiseppe De Dominico) must decide whether to stick with the old man (who had Stefano’s father killed) or side with he competition, who are determined to stop or seize the drug shipment they are sure is on the way. Soon he’ll find himself caught in the middle of a bloody power struggle.

And in Africa the drugs — now loaded onto a couple of trucks for transport from the west coast to a Mediterranean port —become a pawn in a campaign by Islamic insurgents.  Chris and Emma find themselves dodging bullets in a full-fledged war zone.

This is storytelling on a vast scale; what’s remarkable is how invested we become in some of these characters.  Which is saying something since they are, to an individual, awful people.

Still, we can take comfort in the thought that some are less awful than others. By default, these will become our heroes.

| Robert W. Butler