“Sergio” review: Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas strengthen Biopic

Just five days after the creation of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, a lone suicide bomber drove a truck full of explosives on the grounds of the Baghdad Canal Hotel, long used as the United Nations headquarters for the ‘Iraq, and detonated its payload. Nearly two dozen people died in the bombing, and the lasting impact of the attack forever changed the course of UN diplomacy. It also ended the life of the beloved United Nations diplomat, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who had undertaken work in Iraq as a likely departure for a legendary career, the last stop of a life spent serving others. .

All this is not immediately clear in the opening of the fuzzy “Sergio” by Greg Barker, who follows Vieira de Mello (Wagner Moura) through a kaleidoscopic biopic far too busy with a vanity inducing a whiplash which finds the diplomat ruminating his life while he is buried beneath feet of concrete rubble. For a moment, Sergio shouts for help, the next day, he’s back swimming in the warm waters of his native Rio. The start of his tenure in Baghdad is time consuming, as is his successful work in a sick East Timor. Either way, Craig Borten’s picky screenplay even finds space to build into an epic love story, all the better to use co-star Ana de Armas and her exceptional abilities to upset.

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The many time jumps and setting of the film are easy to follow, thanks to a series of subtitles that appear so regularly that the scenes without them end up looking like strange (later, Barker even begins to launch notations to the screen on new characters, rather than just presenting them through the story). But to what end? The many sons that Barker tries to gather never add more than that, disparate parts of a remarkable life. The fact that Vieira de Mello was specifically targeted in the attack because of his work in East Timor (which consisted in withdrawing the new island nation from the claimed Islamic caliphate, thereby angering a proto version of ISIS ) seems like a way to connect all the many elements of the film, and yet the film never does that.

Dotted with a variety of interesting characters, the devoted bodyguard of Sergio Gaby (Clemens Schick) and a truly unrecognizable Bradley Whitford (at least his voice can reveal it), “Sergio” stumbles as often as he delights him. Brían F. O’Byrne appears as Sergio Gil’s right-hand man, a layered role reduced by the revelation that he is something of a composite character. Garret Dillahunt is the soldier who tries to save Sergio and Gil, a quest that would have enough emotion behind, even without a stupid twist that later reveals something of a past between him and Sergio.

Everything is so disgusting, and the lines in the hands of ham intended to smooth out the bumps and to offer a connection to all these different parts of his life never click. Sergio is often reminded that Baghdad is not East Timor (“This is not East Timor”, says a colleague, sort of not the same colleague who also tells him that he is no longer in Brazil or France) and that it is the exception for many rigid rules (“You have always managed to defy the odds”, yet another buddy springs up). But we already know it, just like Sergio. Barker and Borten’s affection for their subject is clear (and deserved), but “Sergio” never trusts his viewers to feel the same.

Although not widely known to most people outside the diplomatic community (and, of course, the very people he helped, who all seemed to love him, of course), “Sergio” offers enough information that even those who do not know his heritage should learn a lot. So why is he skimping on the most important pieces? Why is the impact of the shelling and the death of Vieira de Mello relegated to an epilogue (rendered on the screen, of course)? Why on earth is Vieira de Mello not interesting enough to direct a film without all these narrative tricks?

At least Moura is excellent in the role, finding a dimension in an undercooked script that seems strangely resistant to portray Vieira de Mello as nothing less than a saint on Earth. The second half of the film tries to wrestle with her complex family life – when the love affair Carolina (de Armas) cleverly tells her that she doesn’t mess with married men, it’s a jolt for both Sergio and for the public, like a woman had never seemed to be part of the package. Even this is explained both by a flashback on an unhappy visit with his sons (one of the best segments of the film) and a long explanation of Moura himself.

It is a testimony to both Moura and Armas that they are committed enough to keep these scenes loaded with exhibitions afloat. And yet even the sizzling chemistry of Moura and Armas presents its own problems with an already hampered characteristic; why, after all, is this biopic on an exceptional human being mainly built around a love story? There is no doubt that there is much to admire about the rising representation of Vieira de Mello and Moura, but everything is buried under the weight of a biopic too frightened to really show the truth about a world defective and a defective man who loved him.

Quality: C

“Sergio” is now streaming on Netflix.

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