If there is any indication of what films or shows to expect during Trump 2.0, Zero Day is a strong starting point. A month into President Trump’s second term, Netflix’s mini-series starring Robert De Niro makes nothing but obvious remarks regarding the status of the current political and social climate. Despite its stumble to find its footing in the first half of the six-episode production, Zero Day makes a heartfelt attempt to remind Americans of what we are up against and what we need to do.
Created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt, Zero Day imagines a country where cyber hackers manage to shut off all of the United States – communication, power grids, phones, computers, hospitals, etc – for one minute, with a promise of another attack. We follow former President George Mullen (De Niro), who is appointed to lead a “Zero Day Commission” signed and sanctioned by the current Congress and acting President (Angela Bassett).
The dilemma: The commission has more power than the United States Constitution sanctions. In other words, civil liberties are just as at risk for Americans as the impending second cyber attack.
De Niro’s character is urged to accept this assignment by his wife (Joan Allen), who believes Mullen’s commitment to protecting the integrity of the United States Constitution and his persistence to not step over the line drawn by our courts and judicial proceedings makes him the perfect match. He is a man with a gun in his hand not willing to pull the trigger.
Where the series stumbles is its immediate flood of potential obstacles, gray areas, and possibilities for the outcome. Mullen faces pressures from the politically ambitious President and Speaker of the House (Matthew Modine); a daughter turned Congresswoman tasked to oversee his progression on the Commission; an experimental psychological weapon; Russia and Mossad threats and allegiances; a loud-mouth Sean Hannity-esque entertainer; tech giants; and demons from his past.
And he is not the only character we are privy to watch struggle through the mud that is the Commission’s morality and ethics. Aside from watching Mullen’s daughter Alexandra (Lizzy Caplan) struggle with the choices made to protect her country, Mullen’s aide, Roger Carlson (Jesse Plemmons), struggles with the dirty politics he waded into during his time in Washington before Zero Day.
It is a packed plot that shoots itself in the foot. There is a lot to follow, explore, and discuss–much of which is either left hanging on a cliff or conveniently packed up in its tight run time.
It isn’t without strong intentions. Zero Day at times terrifyingly highlights the vulnerabilities of the United States and pokes at our anxieties about the reliance on technology, the internet, foreign relations with Russia and Israel, government corruption, and, most importantly, the search for the truth.
The show floods you with the same level of intensity that our own media is pushing at us as we navigate Trump’s second term. And despite the writing falling flat and fully developing its ideas surrounding these anxieties, the show makes it very clear–teetering between cliche and profound–that fear itself is the biggest threat to the United States.
Ultimately, the people who orchestrated the Zero Day hack, without spoiling too much, acted more out of fear rather than pure evil. This is where the substance of Zero Day begins to stick.
Writers and creators made it clear that their critiques of the United States are not just towards the wannabe King or technology titan who weaseled his way into the White House. In fact, the anxieties showcased in the six-episode series put more of the blame on us–the American people–than the clowns we are currently angry at and afraid of.
The characters in the show act out of fear–fear of not finding the truth, fear of people finding out their secrets, and the fear that the United States is beyond repair. Let’s be clear: President Trump and his supporters do not have these fears. We do.
So in the final two episodes, when the light begins to shine on Americans and the Congressmen both following and not following the conservative-fascist agendas of today, Zero Day began to move me.
De Niro intentionally plays a flawed man, potentially out of touch with today’s socio-political climate. In a way, he convincingly portrays the well-intentioned people without an idea of how to move forward. On the other hand, I found some of his sins too easily forgiven or unmentioned after he made his final decision in the investigation. And while De Niro yet again cements himself as a strong, experienced, and impassioned actor, he didn’t play George Mullen; he played himself.
Perhaps the most polarising is Mullen’s position or rather opposition to his daughter–an outspoken Congresswoman who openly criticizes her father politically and personally. Alexandra Mullen, also well-played by Caplan, represents an assumption many older Americans have about younger liberals–they are impatient and without hope that there is a fix to this absolute mess we are in. While I found the dynamic between De Niro and Caplan interesting, there is a possibility younger audiences will feel once again we are being blamed or even counted out as potential problem solvers.
Alexandra believed that creating fear would bring people together, a position our media and the Democrats seem to be taking with their constant slew of bag news and half-baked solutions. Her father emphasizes, multiple times in the show, that fear is the danger. Remaining level-headed and moving towards solutions, even if it’s slowly, is how we make progress. And that progress is only earned when the truth prevails.
Thus, all of the threats introduced in the show become second-tier. The biggest threat to Americans was their fear and their willingness to give up certain liberties in an attempt to comfort those fears. And so, Zero Day equally criticizes the left and right, both of whom have acted or are acting out of fear that America has hit rock bottom.
And while the program blatantly leans more to the left, with nothing but disdain for the current President and his voters, I find it my duty to remind people that the idea behind ‘Make America Great Again’ is another fear tactic. And while I can’t speak for the maybe 30% of the most extreme white supremacists and supporters, I choose to remind people that many moderates or now regretful voters acted out of fear that America wasn’t great, and thus put their trust in a man who is choosing to ignore the US Consitution–much like the American people who supported the Zero Day Commission in the show.
The fact is, the threats in the mini-series, a conflict that has stretched far beyond the diegesis of Zero Day, existed before and will exist after this President’s term. But acting — or not acting — based on fear is what has divided America into what seems beyond repair.
In the final moments of the sixth episode, Mullen is told that he just “ruined this country” and he responds, “Every time we do the right thing, it’s a chance to save it.” Zero Day may not be a perfect series and takes on a lot of gray areas too expansive for such a short show, but it is a step in the right direction. The right answers may not be obvious to us or the show’s writers, but I guarantee silence isn’t the answer.
So I encourage more filmmakers and producers to push for these shows and these discussions and I encourage us to listen and to respond–loudly.
Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas
Feature Image Credit to Netflix via The Hollywood Reporter