A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054 is a three-part docuseries, directed by Angelo Defanti, that examines the deadliest air disaster in Latin American history and its aftermath 18 years later. On a rainy night in July 2007, TAM Airlines flight 3054 skidded down the runway as it tried to land at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. It ended up crashing into a building owned by TAM Airlines, and exploded. A total of 199 people were killed: all 187 passengers and crew on the plane, and 12 people on the ground.
A TRAGEDY FORETOLD: FLIGHT 3054: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of a plane flying through rain clouds.
The Gist: In the docuseries, director Angelo Defanti talks to survivors of the accident, namely people who worked in the building the plane crashed into, as well as families of people who died in the crash. There are also CGI reenactments that depict how authorities believe the accident proceeded, including just how the plane briefly went airborne again before crashing into the building.
But much of the docuseries focuses on how an accident at Congohas Airport was almost bound to happen. Congohas is situated in São Paulo’s city center, surrounded by city blocks with businesses and residences, and has a short runway with little room for pilots to course correct. While there is a newer international airport on the city’s outskirts that was supposed to lighten the load on Congohas, the outmoded city airport was busier than ever by 2007, due to its central location. This caused overcrowded terminals, loaded planes and short tempers on the part of passengers and staff. The country’s air infrastructure in general was strained at the time, suffering from delays and accidents.
The victims’ families are angry about the accident to this day, and blame Brazilian transportation authorities and the airline for letting the situation at Conhogas continue to get worse over time. In the third episode, Denise Abreu, chairman of Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (the Brazilian equivalent of the NTSB) at the time, is interviewed; she faced federal charges in the aftermath of the accident.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054 reminds us of another Netflix docuseries about an air disaster: MH370: The Plane That Disappeared.
Our Take: Given that we’re not at all familiar with the TAM flight 3054 crash, despite its horrific circumstances, A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054 was certainly informative, giving us more than enough context about the accident without getting into the weeds about everything that preceded it.
In so many docuseries about mass casualty events, things plod along because the producers and director want us to get all the context surrounding the time period first, then move on to the stories of some of the victims. In this series, though, the crash is at the outset of the first episode, with the filmmakers’ goal to backfill information about the airport’s shortcomings, the aviation crisis in Brazil at the time, and other contextual information as the investigation is examined.
The tone of the storytelling from the first minute — even the title of the series — tells viewers that the idea of this accident’s inevitability is going to be the major thrust of the show. Just the overview shots of Congohas, surrounded by city blocks, shows just how tenuous the situation was there — if you’ve ever flown in or out of Reagan National in DC, you know how tenuous that is. But it seemed like there was a perfect storm of events, no pun intended given the weather conditions the night of the crash, that made conditions ripe for an accident like this. Given the context about Brazil’s aviation crisis that’s filled in as the investigation unfolds — and the really awful way that the airline handled things in the aftermath — it’s no wonder why the victims’ families are still so angry 18 years later.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Clips of the second episode, where victims’ families accuse TAM of disregarding passenger safety.
Sleeper Star: The account of how Paulo Zani, who was working in the TAM Express building when the plane crashed into it, and a coworker escaped with their lives was harrowing to listen to.
Most Pilot-y Line: While we’re not huge fans of reenactments, we were impressed with the reenactments of the crash, likely done via detailed CGI.
Our Call: STREAM IT. A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054 is an impressive recounting of the deadliest airline crash in Latin American history, with the context of missteps that led to the crash doled out in a way that mirrors the crash’s investigation.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054’ On Netflix, A Docuseries About Latin America’s Deadliest Air Disaster And The Families Who Still Want Answers appeared first on Decider.
