Review | A Ponte: The Bridge Brasil, HBO's survival reality, puts participants to create a physical and metaphorical bridge

The HBO Max, in partnership with Endemol Brazil, launch the survival reality The Bridge: The Bridge Brazil, which brings a different and innovative proposal in several layers.

The premise places participants 20 days isolated in nature, where they have a common goal: to build a 300-meter bridge to an island, where they will find the prize. For this, they can only use what is around them as building materials to complete the mission. While building the bridge, participants must form alliances with each other, because when they arrive on the island, a vote will be held to decide who gets the prize. The chosen participant evaluates whether to share it with their allies or not.

with presentation of Murilo Rosa, the program brings together a group of participants, including celebrities from the worlds of arts, sports and social networks, to compete for the grand prize of R$ 500 thousand. The program brings together the singer Nugget, the actress Danielle Winits, the singer badauí, the actor Fábio Beltrão, the model Suyane Moreira, the actress and singer Polly Marine, among others.

The execution of this reality has many different and innovative ideas for Brazil. To begin with, the narrative unites the well-known follow-up of events following the actions of the participants, while using a more cinematic part in its narration and presentation, where Murilo, who remains hidden just watching for most of the time, makes a performance to release the new phases and dictate events.

Another innovation is the metaphor that turns the idea, where the bridge is the object that they need to build, but also a mention of the bridge that they will need to use to unite, or they will not be able to reach the objective. Through hard work and the occasional challenges that arise, participants are encouraged to form a connection with each other. According to Murilo Rosa himself “It is a reality of construction and union”. In the presenter's opinion, “When people go to the middle of the Atlantic Forest without any electronic resources, they feel their emotions a lot and the union and relationships are formed in a unique way. It's different from anything that was made in Brazil, it's original and exciting”.

This union is really reflected on the screen, and it is gratifying to watch a work that does not instigate disputes between the participants in its proposal, but rather promotes union and introduces real challenges in order to make the audience put itself in the person's place in these decisions. . And apparently it worked very well. Murilo revealed that he learned from this experience that “nobody walks alone”. During a press conference with journalists, he commented that he has a philosophy of life: “if I can help someone with information, and it is positive, I will pass on that information. In an adventure like this, with the metaphor of the bridge we need to build in life, the message is that we need to hold hands with other people, unite more in life”. He further stated that the participants, in later conversations, reported that they really changed their perspective and even a serious relationship came out of there.

Behind the scenes, there's also your news. Eduardo Gaspar, Vice President of Creative at Endemol Brazil, reported a very interesting curiosity: “The participants did not know what the program they agreed to participate in was. They only had information from the general proposal, which would have an objective and would be in a different location”. He also revealed that “it was a big challenge for the production to close big names without revealing much of what would happen. It was very interesting because the whole approach was made using primarily the HBO name and Endelmon's fame with reality. For them, it was just said that it was a good project, different, innovative, but that they could not reveal much. And that ended up exciting most of the participants, who were excited about the mystery challenge.” The work was filmed during the pandemic and that ” was a breather at a complicated time. Following the protocol, the participants were confined before entering the reality, which increased their anxiety.”

The Bridge: The Bridge Brazil is a different bet from HBO that promises to please. With original ideas and escaping from the disputes that have already saturated the theme, the reality shows captivating elements and participants that will attract the public's attention. And it still has the great trump card of invest in sustainability in all production.

The Bridge: The Bridge Brazil premieres June 9 on HBO Max, with 8 episodes. In its premiere, 3 episodes will be released, with the rest coming out every Thursday on the service.