“With you Captain” on Netflix: a controversial story, but narrated without nuances | CRITICISM

Judicial processes are always substantial material for cinema and television. And the more complex and controversial they are, the better. That is why it was fully justified to dramatize the case of soccer player Paolo Guerrero and his remembered fight in court for an accusation of doping, in the months prior to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. One of the most notorious episodes of sports litigation in recent years in Peru and the world.

“Contigo Capitán”, the Netflix series that portrays the event in six episodes, wasted this great opportunity on several levels. For example, due to the serious limitations of his script, affected by robotic dialogues and an ineffective search for colloquialism. Also for its aspiration to cover international locations such as Rio de Janeiro or Lausanne, which end up as free tourist prints as a backdrop.

Another shortcoming is the crude recreation of some situations and characters: it is true that Nico Ponce does his best as Guerrero, as well as several of the actors and actresses that surround him in his closest circle; however, it is difficult to take seriously a casting that is filled with mere imitators or improvised extras, who give the series a look of a low-budget soap opera or a simple comic sketch.

But perhaps the biggest problem with “Contigo Capitán” has to do with an underlying issue: that it be a story that does not in the least problematize such a controversial issue as that of the soccer player’s doping, which he and his defense attribute to a cup of contaminated tea. Although it is true that the series has the approval of Paolo Guerrero himself -and that is why it is logical that he should endorse his official version-, there is not even a hint of controversy, any kind of nuance or ambiguity in the account of events, at least for narrative purposes.

Because of that laudatory tone towards an innocent and heroic Warrior, the series lacks an interesting conflict. There is nothing new in the story that we have not already seen in newspaper reports. Neither revelations, nor twists, nor infidences. Hardly the purpose of exonerating a player and raising the fervor of some fans They never lost their support. The passion for soccer and the patriotic sense may be very strong, but none of that is enough for “Contigo Capitán”.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars.