The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Italian crime series really adds up
While at times incredibly violent, Italian crime series ‘ZeroZeroZero,’ available on Prime, is very well-made
While violent at times, Italian crime series “ZeroZeroZero,” available on Prime, is very well made.
The most cinematic work I’ve seen recently isn’t a movie.
That said, “ZeroZeroZero” — an Italian crime series about the international cocaine trade — feels a lot like an eight-hour film, and that’s to its credit.
It’s skillfully shot, very well-acted and complex in its storytelling.
I’m a little embarrassed to say this series — based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Roberto Saviano (“Gomorrah”) — wasn’t on my radar when it landed on Amazon’s Prime Video service in Prime.
“ZeroZeroZero” should be on a lot of people’s radars.
Created by Stefano Sollima, Leonardo Fasoli and Mauricio Katz, the series looks at the drug trade through three parties involved in one massive shipment of the illegal powder: the volatile cartel managing its production; the Italian crime syndicate handling its worldwide distribution; and the American company serving as the link between them, the latter also working to keep the other two outfits apart so as not to be cut out of the equation.
You should know this series requires your close attention — and not only because more often than not it is told in another language with English subtitles. Miss a scene and you may lose a beat as you try to keep up with what is at times a fastshifting story.
Also know this: “ZeroZeroZero” (named for the street name for the purest cocaine) can be incredibly dark and violent. There are a couple of moments — one especially — that took me aback, and I’m no stranger to violent fictional content.
(If you needed a reminder about why you shouldn’t give up the life you know for one in the illegal drug trade, this show is it. Wow.)
In fact, the series begins with American Edward Lynwood (Gabriel Byrne) being shot at a highend restaurant that proves to be in Monterrey, Mexico.
In this first episode, “The Shipment,” we will jump back in time and learn more about Edward and the company he runs whose real business is brokering multi-million-dollar cocaine deals. We also begin to know his daughter, Emma (Andrea Riseborough), who is very involved with the business and would take over if he dies; and son Chris (Dane DeHaan), whom he keeps from it and who, like Edward’s late wife, is expected to develop Huntington’s disease.
In Calabria, Italy, we are introduced to two power players on the distribution end: Don Minu (Adriano Chiaramida) and his grandson, Stefano La Piana (Giuseppe De Domenico). While Don Minu, who has been hiding in a small but well-appointed bunker, believes in a longstanding code of ethics within a world of highly illegal activity, Stefano and a group of others believe this dinosaur’s time has come and gone and that it is time for him to go.
It is back in Monterrey that the cocaine is processed and then hidden in the bottoms of large cans of jalapeno peppers destined for a ship recently acquired by the Lynwoods.
As with the story set in Italy, the Mexican component of the plot involves myriad characters, but the goings-on eventually center on Manuel Contreras (Harold Torres), leader of a highly trained anti-drug military unit. Manuel and most of the men comprising the unit are secretly working for the cartel, and his involvement in the drug trade only deepens as the series progresses. He seems to truly believe he’s following a path laid out for him by God.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to hear it isn’t exactly smooth sailing for the drug ship from Mexico to Italy. Without giving away too much more of the plot, action also takes place in Africa — in Senegal and Morocco, specifically.
Interestingly, the directorial duties are spread among three people: Stefano Sollima (episodes one and two), Janus Metz (three through five), Pablo Trapero (six through eight). This isn’t something you’d likely notice watching the show, but, in retrospect, the latter two directors lean more into a specific storytelling technique in which they show something happen and then rewind to an earlier point and give us the same stretch of time from a different character’s perspective. It’s effective, if also a bit jarring, at least initially.
Does “ZeroZeroZero” feel over-the-top from time to time? Yes, but it also feels powerful.
In front of the camera, all the principal players are deserving of praise. I’ve long found DeHaan (“A Cure for Wellness,” “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”) intriguing on the screen, and that doesn’t change here. More impressive, though, is Riseborough (“Nocturnal Animals,” “Battle of the Sexes”) as this physically unimposing woman who stands tough in defending her business and protecting her brother among many beyond-intimidating men.
And, in large part to the subtle performances of De Domenico and Contreras, respectively, Stefano (“La Cucina”) and Manuel (“Norteado”) are not your typical villains. (Given their various goals, there’s no one you truly could consider a hero in this story, but I feel we are positioned to root for the Lynwoods more than any other characters, although that perception may represent some American bias on my part.)
Originally billed as a miniseries, “ZeroZeroZero” certainly could be given a second season, but I rather hope it isn’t. While there’s room for the story to continue, the final moments of the sometimes-stunning finale, “Same Blood,” make for a lasting memory, if not exactly an uplifting one.