HBO Max’s four-part miniseries “DMZ,” based on the DC/Vertigo comic books, may take place in a near-future America torn by a second civil war. But the issues that divided the nation go unmentioned in this adaptation created by Roberto Patino (“Westworld,” “Sons of Anarchy”) and produced by Ava DuVernay’s Array Filmworks. While that seems like a missed opportunity, at least it’s a break from the right- and left-wing arguments that clog so much of our media.
Instead, the series burrows into the politics of power during wartime, which “DMZ” astutely recognizes as always the same, brutal business regardless of ideological bent. In addition, taking a cue from the popular “Fast & Furious” franchise, this show is about family — and that old standby, redemption.
The demilitarized zone of the title is Manhattan Island. Everything west of the Hudson River is in the hands of the insurgent Free States of America, while the U.S. still controls Long Island and, presumably, New England. There’s been an uneasy cease-fire for eight years, following a chaotic evacuation in which medical professional Alma Ortega (Rosario Dawson) lost her tween boy Christian in the panicked crowd before she escaped to Brooklyn.
Now, citizens on either side aren’t allowed to enter left-on-its-own Manhattan, so the determined, guilt-ridden mother sneaks in to search for her son. Alma discovers the island is both the urban nightmare reports indicated and in several pockets kind of an ongoing street party, with survivors doing their best to not just live, but make life bearable.
Some neighborhoods do it better than others, depending on how well the gangs that control them temper violence by providing creature comforts. The two most successful crews appear to be the Spanish Harlem Kings and a Chinatown outfit that features deadly female fighters. It’s no surprise that both groups’ ruthless leaders — fast-talking populist Parco Delgado (San Francisco’s Benjamin Bratt, having an infectious good time in every excessive appearance) and smooth operator Wilson Lin (Hoon Lee) — are the top candidates for governor of a proposed independent Manhattan state.
Even more coincidental, Alma has romantic histories with both men, and those aren’t her only past mistakes. Nevertheless, as she helps the wounded casualties of Parco’s campaign to extract other gangs’ election support, she becomes known to the people as Zee and — somewhat too quickly to believe — a progressive political force herself. Meanwhile, there’s concern all around for a character called Skel (Freddy Miyares), Parco’s apparently sociopathic assassin who also has profound artistic and romantic sides. Miyares is able to sell all of this and more (Skel’s parental issues are real doozies), but the conflicted character still feels more constructed than organic.
街还有一个勇敢的,可爱的孩子,Odi (Jordan Preston Carter), who talks to ghosts and enjoys Alma’s nurturing instincts while representing a displaced population’s search for home.
DuVernay directed the pilot episode before the COVID-19 pandemic, and she did an efficient job of world-building and setting a bleak but hopeful tone. Following lockdown, Ernest Dickerson directed the three remaining episodes. The cinematographer for Spike Lee’s breakthrough run from “She’s Gotta Have It” to “Malcolm X,” Dickerson brings nerve-jangling handheld camerawork and brutal action staging (he’s also directed loads of “The Walking Dead” and “Dexter” episodes) to the proceedings. The overall look of the series owes a lot to such films as “The Siege” and “I Am Legend” but establishes an environment of its own, dotted with beautiful spaces among the ruins and marked by big graffiti messaging and vast, now-empty hubs of commerce.
“DMZ” may evoke America’s 2020s discord, or even the current nightmare in Ukraine, for some. But that would be a stretch. It’s a political drama that’s studiedly nonpartisan. Whether that makes the show universal, or too cautious to risk possible future seasons, depends on which side you’re coming from.
L“DMZ”:Limited series. Starring Rosario Dawson, Benjamin Bratt, Freddy Miyares and Hoon Lee. Directed by Ava DuVernay and Ernest Dickerson. (TV-MA. Four one-hour episodes.) Available to stream starting Thursday, March 17, on HBO Max.