Adolescence. The miniseries that is putting the world on alert

And if we were woken up in the middle of the night with the police broke into the door and lead our 13-year-old son or brother, claiming that he had committed a bloody and brutal homicide? What would be our first thoughts? What if we realized that we didn’t know him after all? What would we do? This is precisely what Jamie Miller happens (starring actor Owen Cooper, 15), a young man with an angelic air who grew up in a middle -class family, considered functional, accused in the first episode of killing a schoolmate, Katie, in the UK, with a kitchen knife. In the next three episodes we follow the confused and desperate parents, the committed and competent authorities, the teachers, colleagues and friends in their « chaos » bubble and the psychologist who puts us almost « in the water », in the one that has been seen as one of the episodes of a more intense miniseries of recent times.

Moving, devastating, disconcerting, brilliant, perfect, ruthless, overwhelming… The criticism has been unanimous. Adolescence – Netflix’s new production that premiered on March 13 and has been seen by over 25 million people worldwide – has not promised anything, but delivered everything. Perhaps because it is such a silently devastating drama that it sucks us into history as if we were being there, swallowing, interrogating our role as family members, the attention we should give each other, the warning state when we should be at a time when our children/young people grow and live ‘inside a screen’.

Toxic masculinity

Stephen Graham, who plays the role of Jamie’s father, Eddie Miller, is also the series’ argumentist and wrote it with Jack Thorne. The inspiration for writing the story came after seeing two different reports about boys who killed girls to the stab. But it was the story of Axel Rudakbana – who killed three girls in a Southport disco, a UK coastal town – that was most in his head. «I remember thinking, ‘What is happening? What is happening to society for this to be happening? It’s not one thing at once. It’s shocking. And it is distressing to us as a nation and as a society, ”he told Los Angeles Times.

To Tudum, Netflix website, the teens team revealed that they always wanted the spectators to know who killed Katie. «We wanted to give the audience sure to question: ‘What now? How will this evolve? ‘”Jack Thorne explained. «Tell a story with a ‘why?’ instead of a ‘who was it?’ allows us to explore other issues. Issues such as: ‘What’s up with our teen boys?’ Phil, Stephen and I have analyzed masculinity – reflecting on ourselves as men, the types of parents, companions and friends we are, and intensity who we are as people, ”he said.

The production of the streaming platform highlights the « inlel » culture (involuntary celibacy) of men who feel unattractive to the opposite sex and nourish hatred for women and how this is discussed and fed on social networks. That is, a revolt for rejection. Jamie is bullied at school and online. Before committing the crime, Katie herself calls him « incel ». Moreover, many of the meanings of emojis that young people in the UK use in their conversations are unraveled.

Unscrewed

In the miniseries format, adolescence has only four episodes of 50 to 60 minutes-each filming in a single sequence plane (ie, without cuts). And perhaps that is why it is being considered a truly immersive experience. This technique is usually used to accompany the character from a single perspective and throughout an action. «It’s much more complicated than it seems. It takes months of preparation and weeks of rehearsals and an amazing team of people to do it in all phases, from the script to the locations and to the production design, to which exactly the camera will be able to film and what angle, ”shared with Netflix the director Philip Barantini.

To get a sense of the takes, in the first episode, as mentioned above, the police break the door of the Miller family house. To get the sequence plan, it took 12 doors to knock down during rehearsals and recordings. In another of the scenes, it took a drone to go from one scenario to another without making cuts.

The Prodigy Actor

Another of the most amazing aspects of the series was the choice of its protagonist, Owen Cooper, who, until the Netflix debut, was a complete unknown. For Stephen Graham, the 15 -year -old – son of a caregiver and a computer – will be the next Robert Deniro. Everything he has learned is due to the theater group, The Drama Mob in Manchester, created by actress Tina O’Brien, of which she was part. Until then, I had never participated in a series or movie.

To Vogue, Cooper warned of how we used mobile phones, especially young people. «Some children receive phones at the age of seven. I think I got my first at 11 or 12 years. It is in high school that this addiction appears, because we have it constantly in our pockets, ”he said. «My advice to parents is, ‘They cannot keep an eye on their children all the time. Therefore, do not let them have social networks until they are older or follow the recommended age restrictions to have access to what they are to see. Bad things happen. Clearly they are happening throughout England, ”he said.

In this way, they are not in danger of feeling what Jamie’s parents feel throughout the series: « Where did we do? » They questioned in the last episode.