O Mecanismo

A great series, which shows all the corruption installed in Brazil in recent years. Only those who have pet thugs, and we know who owns them, complains about the series. Usually people against capitalism, but loves Netflix with a Coke on the side. Brazil is rotten with corruption and we know who the culprits are and the series shows this well.

Incredible political thriller based on the current situation in Brazil. More instigating than House of Cards.

It shows the reality behind the scenes of the politics of the largest South American country and how it is fought.

This series talks about a very polarizing and hot topic in Brazil. The Car Wash investigation is still ongoing, and nearly half the country believes some of its allegations are "fake news". As a result, despite the show's bipartisan view, many party loyalists are furious about the show and have flooded it with 1 star ratings and bad reviews. On the other hand, people who agree with the show's message are giving it an overly good rating without judging the actual quality of the show. Overall, the show follows the same formula as Padilha's more famous Narcos, so if you're a fan, chances are you will enjoy this one as well. The only difference is the lack of action-packed gun fight scenes and focus on politics and money laundering, but the narration and the police investigation aspects are still there. The show really takes off after the end of episode 2, where it loses the introductory aspect, so I recommend making it past those first episodes before making any conclusions.

The show does not portray any of the real life persons and parties as super heroes. In fact, it has an openly anti-ideology overall message, and every character in this show has significant flaws, so personally it's really hard for me to believe this show would be somehow biased towards any party or ideology. My guess is if you believe the facts involving the car wash operation are legitimate, and don't happen to be loyal to any of the people who inspired the show, you'll find this a great political thriller with interesting characters (some entirely fictional, some based on real people) and beautiful cinematography of multiple Brazilian cities.

Padilha understands deeply the reality of the country and knows how to adapt it to the fiction. Unfortunately, sometimes, the reality here is worse...

It is a decent show with a good and well worked theme. Has its flaws on direction, dialogues and some major scenes but nothing too bad.

The deal with the 10/10 and 1/10 reviews are majority 'political war', with not much sense since the series don't take a political sides as corrupted (not everyone can see it, unfortunately).

Don't watch it thinking you're going to see the next 'The Wire', but definitely worth watching if you wants to know (the romanticized) corruption of Brazil.