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Since its debut on Friday, the series called
"The Mechanism" has enthralled Brazilians with its dramatization
of the political scandal that contributed to Rousseff's downfall
and impeachment in 2016.
But it sparked mocking memes and angry tweets in Brazil with
accusations including that some dialogue delivered by leftist
ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the show resembled the
words of a right-wing politician in a real-life wire tap.
Rousseff assailed the series as a travesty of history aimed at
her Workers' Party and its founder Lula, who has been convicted
of corruption for receiving a luxury seaside apartment as a
bribe.
"Under the guise of telling the story of the Car Wash
investigation in a series 'based on real events,' the director
José Padilha distorts reality and spreads all sorts of lies to
attack me and President Lula," Rousseff said in a statement.
The director, she said, "doesn't merely reproduce fake news. He
has turned himself into a creator of fake news."
Padilha could not immediately be reached for comment, and
Netflix did not respond to requests for comment. Padilha told
Reuters this month that he hoped to remind viewers that rampant
corruption in Brazil was not the fault of any particular
politician or party.
"The series is trying to take a position that is
non-ideological," he said in that interview.
Workers Party officials said they were consulting lawyers to see
what legal action they can take.
Rousseff was impeached for breaking budget laws, ending 14 years
of leftist rule by the Workers Party. Lula, still Brazil's most
popular politician, faces a 12-year prison sentence and will
likely be barred from running in this year's election, even
though he is the front-runner in early polls.
The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported that left-wing
Brazilians canceled their Netflix subscriptions over the weekend
angered by the depiction of Lula and his party.
"The Mechanism" opens a decade before the Car Wash probe was
launched in early 2014 with federal police investigating money
laundering in southern Brazil but failing to catch a key
suspect.
They eventually unveil a kickback scheme involving politicians,
construction companies and Brazil's state-run oil company called
Petrobras in real life and Petrobrasil in the series.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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