User reviews

What most annoyed me the whole movie is the unnecessary love scenes. We got how much their relationship was important, but there were too many scenes to show it. Other thing is that some facts are wrong, just to make the love story "better".

Wasted opportunity to raise awareness of this mans work.

More of a love story than the actions of a great man but still very good although consequently the pacing of the film is quite slow but it kept me entertained throughout.

I totally agree with the previous, short but to the point review, "Important man, poor film". I also thought that the sex scene, although beautiful in itself was not appropriate or necessary, in fact it felt to me more an intrusion of privacy. Sergio should've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, even now, posthumously I think it would be very fitting for this great man of peace, independence and human rights.

Screenplay is too boring, even Pablo Escobar cant save it but the real life story is very dramatic and inspirational. could have been better

She steals the movie and lifts up a screenplay that is decent enough but not as extraordinary as the real story is based on. All in, a very good and moving film by itself. Deserves a good watch.

At this moment, it's good to watch a biopic about someone that cares. Even slipping into the risk of glorification - Sergio was an icon, but we all know people aren't perfect - I would like to ser more about his career. The love story only survives because of the bond between actors Ana de Armas and Wagner Moura

Another positively surprising film that I had no prior knowledge of. Yet I took the chance and let it play. "Sergio" gives an insight to the real life story of Sergio de Mello, a Brazilian diplomat who travels to Baghdad in 2003. On surface it's easy for movies like this to sideline the cinematic/emotional elements and get occupied to tell you all the information of the real life events. Although this is a case where the UN plot and the human plot nicely complimented each other - To the point where I got invested. While the opening didn't manage to engage me, it did get my interest. With some patience it eventually got my full attention. I loved how it was told non-linearly. Sergio looks back on his life as if he's recollecting his best times. All the while coping with a life threatening situation. The flashes back to the past are intentionally placed to be intrusive. In this case it clicked well with me. Because it places you in his perspective. Drifting from a flashing memory back to reality. The cinematography style is engaged with motivation in the flashbacks, while following a plainer "documentary" approach in present time. Which greatly strengthened the flashes of his life in the past. The ocean next to Rio de Janeiro is a strong recurring element. It represents his home, his freedom and his want to one day solely focus on the people he loves.

Wagner Moura and Ana De Armas pour their hearts into their respective roles. You can see that they live every moment of Sergio and Carolina's happiness. And that feeling of happiness and love transcended through the screen to me. In other words: I bought their depiction of the romance. I have to mention a scene where they both listen to a local woman in East Timor explaining her dreams. It's a beautiful poem that reminds us of how insignificant the material goals seem next to the purity of nature. Sergio is so taken by what he's heard that his response is to simply hug the woman and say "I understand". The whole movie wasn't able to keep this type of momentum up in every scene. Since you'll hit the conventional beats. It wasn't a perfect experience, but the splinters of the human spirit were still felt. Made me want to float on the water and feel the warmth of the Sunrays.

Completely unnecessary dramatization of his love affair more than half of the movie. If I wanted to watch a romantic film, I'd watch a romantic film, not a film I've fixed my mind to learn about an important man.

Some right wing brazilians are giving low rate to this movie only because Wagner Moura is the actor who plays Sergio and the producer. Besides a great actor and a human being he is active politically and fight against the bad decisions of our actual brazilian government, a terrible one. The movie, overall, is enjoyable, very well acted, delicate and a good introduction in the story of Sergio Vieira de Mello, another great human being. The soundtrack with Cartola and Caetano Velloso is a plus.

A dramatic telling of the story of a career UN official who devoted much of his life to solving problems in East Timor and Iraq under the UN. Wagner Maura is very effective.

I was looking for a political movie, I found out just a good love story.

Very interesting decision to sideline so many great actors in this. Giving it 5 stars because so many great characters were wasted. Really wanted to know more about the rescue in the hole. The lingering shots on Moura's face while rescuers were blurry and inaudible was disappointing. I have a feeling if the actors knew that would be their fate they wouldn't have signed on. There's a huge, interesting part of the story lost. I don't know why Barker made this movie. His documentary was so much more interesting and complete.

This could have been an amazing biography of modern times, some dialogues and scenes were amazing but there was no need to show nudity and t*t*. I would have loved a linear story telling instead of time jumps which didnt quite connect to me. Character building was bad however acting by Wagner Moura (also played Pablo Escobar) was amazing. He is a man full of expressions, he can express notonly from his eyes but his whole face. Carolina Larriera played by Ana de Armas didnt do justice, she was more of a distraction than any help but her last scene when she was crying was very emotional, but like i said, these time jumps n various stories from Vietnam to East Timor n Iraq were all over the place n disjointed. Wagner Moura still managed to do a marvelous job, every scene in which he was with people was truly inspirational. Lets hope Wagner gets a better director in future.

It happens that I serve the same Organisation as a staff member in the field and I felt that political dimensions were often oversimplified, plus there were many ''technical'' mistakes (from the colour of the plane to the way security staff perform the car security checks). On the directing side, there were too long dull moments for no reason and average acting. Nice soundtrack. 6 is maybe harsh but 7 is too high.

The movie shows the emotional side of a man responsible for historic moments and though it might not have fully captured the political parts, the melancholy presented in the movie makes the movie so appealing and can make sensitive people to cry at the end.

This is sloppy. 50% GeoPolitics - 50% Love Story is not the most effective way to make an impact for a UN Story. Something has to give.

Sergio is a decent enough watch it just feels like it's missing something to take it to the next level of powerful filmmaking. Wagner Moura is very good in the lead role and Ana de Armas continues her impressive rise with another fine performance.

Did they forget to add the actual story in the movie? I was waiting for the movie to start but it did not; they should've at least warned us that this is a love movie and not even a good one. Too bad for the good actors; they didn't even do well.

Sergio; sorry that your story wasn't shown the way it should be.

I'm glad I didn't check the reviews before watching the film because it was such a beautiful story of something that's much more multilayered than just a linear storyline: the balance between Sergio's ambition, internal issues, love + complex nature of international relations. It's not an action film, it's a story of a purpose-driven man on the journey of becoming his true self. The pace is slower which I didn't find boring, quite the opposite in fact, gave enough room to build a more nuanced world and characters. Just watch it.

Disappointed. Very.

Sorry, it was an OK, fairly entertaining, acceptable movie to watch, specially during quarantine isolation with little new content out there but really:

Such a great cast... GREAT CAST.... GREAT STORY... SHOULD have taken advantage, minimally, of how great his career was and have been told in a higher IQ way.

Wagner Moura is AN ABSURDLY TALENTED ACTOR. Ana de Armas is talented and pretty. Solid cast. And most importantly, Sergio de Mello was the most capable and brilliant diplomat I know and his INCREDIBLE career was by far more than just a shallow romantic involvement as STRONGLY focused by the fIlm.

Longing in many ways, wasted too much focus and screentime in the romance and nuances of it.

I feel that this movie is ruined in the screenwriter's hands. I should have watched some movies with terrible scripts but I am pretty sure these movies were not promising that much. A good subject , a good protagonist, enough budget, some good side actors but all is gone because of irritating, unrelated sometime even nonsense dialogues and stories are told by Sérgio. They were caring too much about the messages to be given with words more then acting. I also should add that, the love story in the movie was too divine in some point you may ask in a wonder if it was a movie about Sérgio's personal life with some political life background.

Low on details of the man, and predominantly a romance story between two lovers. Beautifully photographed cinematography. I really do like these two actors, Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas. But the way they edited this film and put it together is extremely annoying. What I am talking about are the continuous switching between timelines. I would have preferred if they made the film in a linear timeline. I don't think this switching back and forth serves any purpose, artistic or story telling.