Editor’s note: The following is a review from a Critical Writing and Reviewing student at the University of Missouri.
As far as bio-documentaries go, Sergio is a new twist to an old format. Its heroic quality leaves the audience enveloped in the emotion the film projects. It has everything a film should offer: suspense, love, raw emotion, even a little bit of humor and scandal, not to mention a main character with movie-star looks. With all of these characteristics meticulously and perfectly combined, it’s easy to forget that it’s nonfiction. Director Greg Barker (Ghosts of Rwanda) takes chances and eschews the predictability most documentaries possess in his film about former U.N. worker Sergio Vieira de Mello.
For 34 years Vieira de Mello served as a diplomat for the United Nations. Most recently, he worked as High Commissioner for Human Rights and was appointed as Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General to Iraq. By this point Vieira de Mello had already established himself in his career as a great humanitarian. He worked during some of the darkest days in Cambodia, Bosnia, Croatia and East Timor, a short list of many. But through the strife these countries faced, he always worked toward the light of a brighter future. For this continuous strive and dedication, he was globally well known and admired.
The 55-year-old Brazilian has been called many things, even a cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy; but most simply called him Sergio, one of the only members of the United Nations known by his first name alone. He was dashing and high-minded with a charming smile and handsome demeanor, but he was also bold, motivated and strong-willed. Barker’s archival footage of Vieira de Mello captures these traits beautifully, making it easy to fall in love with the man behind the name, or at least understand and appreciate him more wholly.
The film is based on Samantha Power’s 2008 biography Chasing the Flame. The book ends with the horrific bombing of the Canal Hotel, the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, where Vieira de Mello tragically died under the rubble of his third-floor office in August 2003. It’s with this part of Vieira de Mello’s life that Barker’s film takes a cinematic turn, leaving the audience captivated and consumed in the dramatic intensity of the event.
At this point in the film Barker turns up the suspense, catapulting his documentary into a riveting piece of cinema. He combines archival footage of the bombsite along with feed from the press conference that was occurring during the explosion. These documentarian aspects provide a foundation of reality and credibility. But it’s his suspenseful recreation of the bombing that gives it dramatic flare – the audience hears the explosion and the screen goes black. In these moments, Barker displays seamless cinematography that gives the audience a realistic account of the tragedy. It can’t be ignored that some of the assurance and reality of these scenes should be credited to U.S. soldiers William von Zehle and Andre Valentine’s compliance with reenacting their own roles in rescuing the victims out of the overwhelming wreckage.
Every bit of drama in a film needs its counterpart of emotions from the heart. Interviews with von Zehle; Valentine; Gilda Vieira de Mello, his mother; and Carolina Larriera, his coworker and fiancée, among others, add that sentiment that brings Vieira de Mello to the audience on a more personal level. He was more than a name; he was a man to be honored, admired and loved. Sergio is an astonishing and gripping depiction of the man behind the name and leaves the audience enthralled even after the credits end.
By Abbey Trescott
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