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Reviews
Nemesis (2024)
Loved it.
The acting for the most part is excellent, especially for the main characters. The characters develop. The dad/head prosecutor, the son, the mom/prosecutor, the ambitious assistant prosecutor, the financial crime investigator, all have a story arc. The actual financial crime (apart from the murders) remains somewhat fuzzy, but that's how financial crime by white collar criminals is. Fuzzy and mostly invisible.
And no-one in the establishment is without blame with tax laws offering convenient loopholes easily misused by criminals, laundering money and committing tax fraud at a grand scale. The personal relationships of the people involved muddying the waters. And the tentacles of money reaching into far and unexpected corners.
Loved it.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019)
Nice, but for the elephant in the room. (or more accurately, the red bull)
Season 6. It's not as bad as some of the reviews on here make it out to be. The Williams/Haas episode is great. As is the one on McLaren. Nothing wrong with the episode on De Vries/Ricciardo. Or the one on Alpine and the relationship between their drivers is boring, but that happens. The Toto / Hamilton episode is mostly cringworthy. As is the Aston Martin one.
The few bits of insight into the media spin of McLaren and Mercedes and the driver's non-verbal reaction to that are a highlight! But.... the elephant in the room is the missing episode on Red Bull. And thus, the story of the season (records broken left and right) is completely missing from this series. Which is a big negative for me.
Perez's brilliant start and then slump, Max's turnaround after a disappointing start.. none of it. Seems like an alternative reality. Too bad. That episode should have been made.
Captains of the World (2023)
Highly Romanticised and Selective
While this series offers some interesting behind the scenes footage, its main story is highly selective. It also lacks any journalistic impartiality. It is highly biased towards Argentina, and Messi in particular. The most glaring examples are the complete omission of mentioning the fact Maradona scored with his hand (in the final episode) and the way they depict the aftermath of the Arg-Ned quarter final (episode 5) and the complete misrepresentation of what was said by the Dutch coach before the match and by Messi and Weghorst after.
Truly made by loving fans, no doubt. But it isn't a journalistic documentary. It's Netflix and Messi fans spinning a story.
Also, no mention at all of the fact this was held in Qutar and at what cost.
A Small Light (2023)
Very, very good.
Yes they're speaking English and not Dutch, but what do you expect? It's a series meant to appeal to a global audience as its subject matter well deserves. The locations are Dutch, the feel is Dutch (comparable to Soldier of Orange) even if all the signs are in English. It's a very, very well-made production.
Yes there are some liberties taken with the actual events, but not in a bad way. Although the eventual raid of the annex and the 'interrogation' of Miep was a bit... Well... let's say it probably didn't quite go like that.
But apparently her Austrian roots did play a part in her not being arrested.
For people complaining that the scene of Miep walking into Gestapo Headquarters is all Hollywood, please read up. Even the site of the Anne Frank House states that Miep tried, unsuccessfully, to buy the freedom of the Franks and others arrested. Probably not exactly in the way depicted here. But it's not completely fiction!
Beast of Bangalore: Indian Predator (2022)
Another painful indictment of the Indian police
The documentary, painfully, exposes the absolute incompetence of the various Indian police services.
Their suspect escapes twice by almost the exact same means, because absolutely no-one ever has suspected that a suspect would try to escape while pretending to have to go the the bathroom (or in this case a wooded area) or that one can run on a plastered leg.
The officers involved manage to make it sound like the suspect was a mastermind, because... Who would have thought to visit his parents house to look for evidence after he was arrested for the first time?
Incredible. That is why I gave it a 7. For the insight into a disfunctional police.
The rest of the documentary is mostly very boring.