ZeroZeroZero (Watch on Amazon - Italian- CC)
ZeroZeroZero is an Italian crime drama television series created by Stefano Sollima, Leonardo Fasoli and Mauricio Katz. It is based on the book of the same name by Roberto Saviano, a study of the business around the drug cocaine, covering its movement across continents
While that mundane description of ZeroZeroZero, cocaine could be swapped out for any commodity. This 10-part series on Amazon just happens to interweave the transnational business of the cocaine underworld with family power struggles within Italian crime families, a pair of siblings taking over for their father, the authorities and competitors trying to stop them. Heightening the tension on the massive sale is the siblings are taking over for their recently deceased father, who had been the main broker in the chain of custody across multiple continents responsible for the millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Along the way, every stage of production, source of concealment, obstacle to overcome, shakedown from dirty cops, border problems and any number of stressful situations with the shipping and distribution of such a substantial amount of cocaine form the foundation of ZeroZeroZero.
More nuanced than Narcos or El Chapo, ZeroZeroZero lies more in line with crime series like Gomorrah Suburra or films like Sicario or Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Building on a narrative that shows the interconnection between multiple crime syndicates and how they handle themselves as it becomes increasingly dangerous along the way, especially after numerous obstacles delay the product on its way to the multiple exchanges needed to move such a large amount of narcotics. The family tensions portrayed in this series will be familiar to fans of The Sopranos. Similarly, the bird's-eye view of a narcotics underworld is a theme that fans of The Wire or Breaking Bad may recognize. It’s easy to recognize early on isn’t your average show about drugs.
