Adu (2020) Netflix Film Review
The Netflix film, Ado, is emotional and dramatic, and might be a little bit convoluted. Three stories mildly intersect in the area of Melilla, a Spanish city in northern Africa, right near Morocco.
Ado is the main character and really the focus of the narrative, but we do have two other stories that are playing out within this movie. They are minor, but they really go to help illustrate the themes that are found within the film. Ado is a young boy who, along with his sister, they witness a crime and then become targets of the perpetrator, so they have to flee to safety.
They've got a difficult and dangerous journey that is wrought with frustration, terror, and heartache. The second story follows Mateo, an officer in the Guardia Civil, whose task is to guard the border at Melilla. After a tragedy during his watch, he questions his role, and then he begins to really re-examine what he feels is right.
The final story follows Gonzalo and his daughter, Sandra. Gonzalo runs an elephant sanctuary, and he's trying to navigate the rocky relationships that he has with local government, as well as with his daughter. There are a few themes that run their way throughout the entire story, and that's of salvation, justice, family, and protection.
I think the movie can fill you with a sense of helplessness, but also throughout, you have it contrasting with this small offerings of hope. There's many moments as I'm watching this with Ado where I'm gasping, like I am fearful for his outcome and his safety. He's such this cute little kid.
He's probably like nine, maybe ten at the most, and he finds himself in certain situations, and at those times, I just felt like grabbing him, hold him tight and protect him, or run away, you know, guarding him so that he can't get hurt from the world. There are also times that I did yell at the TV, hoping that he would hear me like, "no, no, no," because I, as a viewer, I get to see and I know what is coming, or what this outcome could mean if he follows through with an act.
But because he's so young and he's naive, and he hasn't been exposed to just the terrors of the world, he doesn't know, and so he blindly and naively goes into these situations. It does have tragic moments in it with some real sadness, but it's so powerful and really well made. Like I said, the stories of Mateo and Gonzalo, those are secondary, and they're really minor to the story of Adu.
Honestly, I could have done without their stories completely and just followed Adu and his story going on, because really, if you do cut out the other ones, even though they complement at different points, and they do mildly intersect, I mean mildly intersect, and they do go to reinforce themes, they were ultimately, they weren't totally adding to the story of Adu. And he as a character, he as a young actor, and just all the circumstances around him were enough to suck me in and to keep me invested. Gonzalo's story really focuses on family and protection, while Mateo's focuses a whole lot more on justice.
The film really doesn't spend too much on their stories. Honestly, when I watched the trailer, I thought it was going to be a much different movie than what we got. I really felt that it was going to focus a lot more on Gonzalo, who's played by Luis Tassar, and just focus more around that and even more around the elephants and just his sanctuary and his work.
But really, ultimately, what it boils down to is this is a story of the title character, Adu. I think it is probably a good thing that the story didn't focus a whole lot more on Mateo or Gonzalo, because when we got to their story parts, it just kind of put on the brakes, that it really slowed down. Adu's story is so compelling and so driving, and you do really feel this sense of urgency that when you get to the other two stories, they're just kind of happening.
Things are going along, and we follow little bits of their story and little bits of their life, but it really does, It hits the brakes almost when we get to that in terms of pace. It's not clunky, but it's noticeable when we get to these other parts, especially because they really, in relation to everything, are so minor compared to the rest of the story. The shots in this are really beautiful, both in the scenery and in the framing.
We go from the dark green jungle to the dirty, dusty streets to the wide open blue sea and a lot of other scary places in between those. Overall, this is a really emotional story with a heartbreaking performance from Adu. The other storylines, while complementing the themes, really go to take us out of the main story of Adu, and it just breaks the pace and honestly, they're not nearly as interesting, even though they are still working through some themes. I rate Adu four out of five stars.