It’s possible that I may be a couple of weeks too late with this warning…
By now everyone has watched or at least heard about the hugely successful British series on Netflix. It feels like this is being discussed on every chat group. Even I have written a quick review after watching it and being blown away by its brilliance. On thinking through, I realized that it is not for everyone. It definitely is not a date night show! Take it from me – someone who took his wife to “Schindler’s list” on our wedding anniversary! 🤦🏽
I wanted to essentially redo my review with this disclaimer:
Don’t watch “Adolescence” expecting…
- to be entertained
- flashy fight sequences or police chases
- melodramatic cliffhangers at the end of every episode – thereby making you want to binge watch episode after episode.
- any kind of comedy
- no religion or politics or sex
- to see the good guys and bad guys put into clearly demarcated boxes
- a closure in the form of a neatly tied up story
“Adolescence” covers the “why” aspect of crime that we routinely see in our news these days. It’s presented from the point of view of the accused and his family as opposed to that of the victim. The writing is super brilliant. Acting is mind-blowing, and so is the cinematography – which is surprising, considering that it’s not a story or theme that naturally lends itself to such! I predict it will sweep the awards in all 3 of these categories. Every single actor, whether it’s for the main characters or for bit roles, has lived in their characters so well that it felt like we were actually peeking in on real life happening in front of us.
I am not usually a fan of heavy stuff. Those that know me well know that I am more of an “Airplane”, “Naked Gun” or “History of the World” type guy! But I was totally blown away by this serious themed short series (only 4 episodes).
The single-take approach they used for the series was fascinating and gave us a feel of actually being right there observing real-life drama! By the end of the series, I was feeling like an amateur cinematographer, who figured out where the camera was placed for a particular scene and when and how it transitioned to the drone etc. However, as tempting as it was, I had to watch myself from being the amateur psychologist who has it all figured out – the kids’ minds, how the parents, teachers and the psychologist should’ve handled the situations differently or better. Clearly the complex interplay of various factors influencing a child’s behavior defy simple and straightforward explanations.
I strongly recommend it! As I mentioned before, it is not entertaining but it is definitely thought-provoking. Watch it to understand the impact of social media, bullying and parenting on kids. I especially recommend it to parents of kids in schools (from elementary to high school). It exposes us to the kind of pressures that kids endure routinely these days. Since social media is all-pervasive, no country’s people are immune from its ill-effects. I am happy to see this series (and topics like peer pressure, bullying and parenting) being discussed in chatrooms worldwide.
But, it is definitely not for everyone!
RecoveringNostalgic 