O Ninho (Portuguese Mini-Series) [The Nest]

I have mixed views about this 4 part mini series. At its core, the story is about a young man searching for his brother but in the process he rediscovers himself and explores his sexuality. But, the series feels rushed and without a conclusion of any sorts, slightly frustrated me by its end. It was more like watching a chapter of our protagonists life.

Bruno, a young military who has just run away from the army, travels to Porto Alegre in search of his brother, who he hasn’t seen in years. Unable to find him, he goes to a queer club and makes some new sexual fluid friends and ends up sleeping with two of them. The next day, the three of them are invited over by a very nice but old French neighbor for breakfast. This guy had met Bruno in the hotel the previous day. Bruno manages to find the bar, the last known location where his brother used to work and meets Stella, the co-worker. Together the duo visit a nearby beach to see the house where the brother, Stella and their friends used to have a lot of parties but feels abandoned now in winter. In the last day, he still hasn't found his brother , but he now has to return to military to face the repercussions of having ran away. But despite not finding the brother, Bruno does discover a new space, new friends and learns how to be free and be himself. He finds a new family.

Bruno's search leads him to his brother's old workplace, an old girlfriend and a group of hedonistic teens who bring him out of his socially accepted cocoon. He is shown to be this reclusive yet respectful person who is slowly learning to come out of his own shadow. There are a lot of subtle messages shown around in the show. Through the friends whom he meets and never for a second judges them, the show tries to give us an idea of the daily oppression of living outside the heteronormative social standard and what it's like to resist, every action, faithful to yourself in a world with so many prejudices by queer people. Various individuals draw the narrative's focus without sacrificing the momentum of Bruno's search, which begins in the physical and eventually turns inward. What's more, those that draw the narrative's focus are not only beautifully realized but beautifully diverse, in age, in character and in motivation.

The story unfolds organically and contains a bittersweet ending, after all, not always everything is as we want but life is perfect in its own way. We all have our nest in which we are safe and comfortable but we also have this whole world outside us which is just waiting to be explored. There is an artistic quality to the series which I really enjoyed and appreciated but some sense of collusion would have made me happier. (6/10)