Tight pace and plot twists make '3%' a binge-watching dream

02 December 2016 - 13:32 By ANDREW DONALDSON
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It's tempting to regard '3%', the new Brazilian dystopian thriller series, as a rough gem commenting on the inequality in that country, set, as it is, in a future failed Amazonia where poverty-stricken youngsters aspire to join the elite few permitted to leave their miserable surroundings.

Speaking of inequality, though, 3% treads a path that may seem familiar to viewers, thanks to franchises like The Hunger Games andDivergent, but it does so at a fraction of the cost of those slick US productions.

Consider that a minor caveat. The tight budget is immediately apparent in the sets and costumes, although they do grime and squalor rather well, and I was reminded at times of inner-city Johannesburg.

Dubbing is also poor. This was Netflix's first Brazilian production, and one can only presume they balked at using subtitles with the original Portuguese dialogue because US audiences are too lazy to read.

But it doesn't look at all bad. Director and executive producer César Charlone, perhaps the most familiar name on the credits, was director of photography on City of God.

He's brought the same gritty, guerrilla-styled camera work that made that movie an international hit to this production and he's done wonders with his young multiracial cast. In that sense, it is striking how 3% is so much less vanilla than most of our current TV fare.

Where this eight-part series compels is through character and plot. Here's a world where 3% of desperate 20-year-olds get a crack at a better life in a promised land called the Offshore - provided they survive a series of selection tests known as the Process.

The Process is managed by an enigmatic, creepily secretive overseer, Ezequiel (played by João Miguel). Heading up the candidates is Michele (Bianca Comparato), who has a few secrets of her own, and there's more than meets the eye regarding her drive to reach the Offshore.

Many of the other candidates, like the wheelchair-bound Fernando (Michel Gomes) and the ruthless narcissist Rafael (Rodolfo Valente), are just as compelling.

It's not quite the killing fields of, let's say, The Hunger Games. The challenges facing the hopefuls may be difficult, physically and mentally, and they will reduce their numbers, but there's no sense that this a general cull.

And, of course, there's a rebel movement out there that is conspiring to tear down the system from within. It has managed to place an infiltrator into the Process. Her identity is revealed in the first episode, and her progress through the series provides 3% with its edge-of-the-seat tension.

There are other mysteries, such as what the Offshore looks like, and what happens when those lucky few get there. Coupled with a tight pace and plot twists, it all makes for nifty binge-watching.

'3%' is streaming now on Netflix

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