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'Sergio': Wagner Moura shines as a UN envoy witnessing the human cost of war

At a little over 110 minutes, the film directed by Greg Barker, and written by Craig Borten feels somewhat stretched, but that can be true for most biographical dramas
UPDATED APR 17, 2020
Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas (Netflix)
Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas (Netflix)

In her 2011 book ‘Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War’, American journalist Annia Ciezadlo, writing about her experience in a war-ravaged Iraq, said, “In every war zone, there is another battle, a shadow conflict that rages quietly behind the scenes. You don’t see much of it on television or in the movies. This hidden war consists of the slow but relentless destruction of everyday civilian life: The children can’t go to school. The pregnant woman can’t give birth at a hospital. The farmer can’t plow his fields. The musician can’t play his guitar. The professor can’t teach her class. For civilians, war becomes a relentless accumulation of can’ts.”

‘Sergio’, through the eyes of United Nations diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello, explores this hidden war, not just in Iraq, but in East Timor, and other countries where Vieira de Mello served. 

At a little over 110 minutes, the film directed by Greg Barker, and written by Craig Borten feels somewhat stretched, but that can be true for most biographical dramas. The length, however, doesn’t take away from the many intensely human moments of the story. 

Vieira de Mello was appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights on 12 September 2002. Less than a year after he was appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, asked Vieira de Mello to take a temporary leave of absence from his post to serve in Iraq as Annan's Special Representative there. On 19 August 2003, just three months after he arrived in Iraq, Vieira de Mello -- and 22 of his colleagues -- were killed when the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was bombed.

The film doesn’t try to build any suspense around the bombing. In fact, it begins with it. The story is then told in flashbacks -- of Vieira de Mello’s time in Iraq, and his time in other nations, about how he dealt with conflict, about how he met the love of his life Carolina Larriera. These flashbacks help understand the nature of a man who only strived for peace and stability, but not at the cost of human lives being gutted by wars, visible or hidden. 

One of the stronger aspects of the film is its casting. Wagner Moura, who rose to international fame with his performance as the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in ‘Narcos’, provides an equally powerful performance as the titular Sérgio. Moura’s interpretation of the diplomat is that of a calm body of water with turbulence under the surface. His empathy feels genuine.

His anger at the atrocities committed by the US in Iraq feels physically real. And his disarmingly charming smile makes the charismatic UN worker feel so human that despite knowing the inevitability of his tale, you can’t help but hope Sérgio somehow survives the bomb blast.

Ana de Armas and Wagner Moura in 'Sergio' (Netflix)

The other power-packed performance comes from Ana de Armas. Her portrayal of Argentine-Italian UN official Carolina Larriera, Vieira de Mello’s partner, is mature and understated. Even their romance is not shown frivolously. In a much smaller role, Bradley Whitford as US diplomat Paul Bremer also shines. He’s ruthless, cold and only affable when the situation needs it. A far cry from his most notable role inside the White House in ‘The West Wing’.

The life of a UN envoy, his peacekeeping missions, and his untimely death may not be the kind of quote-unquote Middle-East film Hollywood has acclimated us to. It contains little action (save the blast), it doesn’t have a high-stakes anti-terrorism operation, and it doesn’t, for sure, harbor any ideas that glorify the US, especially its war on Iraq. For these reasons, it may not enjoy much popularity.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a film we shouldn’t watch, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s not a good film.

‘Sergio’ embodies compassion (sometimes a little heavy-handedly) and ‘Sergio’ sometimes glorifies the United Nations a little too much. But the film is a good effort to present the local costs of global imperialism, and the fate meted out to those who seek to change this order.

‘Sergio’ is available for viewing on ‘Netflix’.

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