DMZ: Limited Series

 

Based on: Vertigo comic of the same name by Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli

Created by: Roberto Patino

Directed by: Ava DuVernay & Ernest Dickerson 

Starring: Rosario Dawson (Alma/Zee), Benjamin Bratt (Parco), Freddy Miyares (Skel), Hoon Lee (Wilson), Jordan Preston Carter (Odi)

In hindsight, I'm not sure what appealed to me about this show. The trailer made clear that it took place in a dystopian alternate future, so I heard "sci-fi" but there really wasn't any! Ultimately, the characters kept me going, which is as it should be. 

The limited, six-episode series is (as I stated above) takes place in an alternate future where America goes through a second civil war. The series is about a medical doctor (Alma) who is separated from her son (Skel) during the war and hasn't seen him in six-some years since an uneasy peace was negotiated. At the beginning of the series, Alma is given a chance to enter the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) to follow a lead on finding him. 

This premise is almost too complicated to be effective in such a limited series, but it ends up working because the show doesn't try too hard to explain itself. It uses this dystopian, alternate future in the only way it really needs to: as a context and obstacle for Alma's main story. Similarly, it does the same to help us understand the high stakes involved: the pilot episode's high tension and sense of urgency are effectively conveyed both in showing the dangers of the DMZ and Alma's willingness to endure it to find her son. It simultaneously conveys the dangerous setting and Alma's convictions without having to actually explain anything with words. That is strong filmmaking. 

Promotional image of Alma entering the DMZ

Through the pilot, we begin to gain an understanding of this DMZ's world and the brand new situation Alma finds herself in. Power (nature) hates a vacuum, as goes the famous quote, and the DMZ is no different. Alma walks into a precarious attempt at democracy where three or four gang leaders are vying for official leadership over the zone. We find out that Alma has personal connections to two of these gang leaders and when she uses those connections to try and locate her son, it gets her sucked into the leadership struggle, whether she means to or not. 

Over the course of the series she becomes increasingly involved in this democratic election in ways I didn't expect and, in doing so, finds her son and has to repair her relationship with him. The show takes really interesting turns and has a surprising ending that is both satisfying and... not.