Watch The Year: 2020

The Year: 2020 is an enthralling ABC documentary series whose chronological narrative is set explicitly amidst the backdrop of a historic and unprecedented year, compiling a tapestry of global events that not only symbolize the past twelve months but shall also serve as molecular components of the matrix of history.

From an inexhaustible pandemic that seemed to hold the world hostage, a reckoning of racial inequality and social justice, to a combative and contentious presidential election that saw the world's largest economy grappling with transitions, The Year: 2020 attempts to lend an insight into these public spectacles holistically, capturing the essence and significance of these world-changing events that have undeniably reshaped the course of human history.

Featuring variegated perspectives, including everything from news clips and popular culture to expert interviews, and testimonials from ordinary individuals who lived through these experiences, the show serves to paint a multi-dimensional and intimate portrait of 2020, offering viewers a nuanced understanding of the complexities and grandeur of the year. Allowing for a diverse array of voices to explore and express the cataclysmic shifts that marked the year, The Year: 2020 extends beyond mere documentation and delves into the socio-cultural and personal ramifications of these events, enabling an empathetic and humanistic contemplation of the past year's profundities.

While COVID-19 takes the center stage of the narrative, functioning as the primary antagonist, the series does not confine the narrative exclusively to it. It skillfully incorporates stories of political unrest, wildfires, and #MeToo narratives, and also pays tribute to the multitude of beloved and respected personalities we lost over the year, including sports icon Kobe Bryant and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In an attempt to encapsulate the resiliency of the human spirit, the programme also highlights the world’s collective stands against racism in the wake of George Floyd's death and the successive Black Lives Matter protests.

In a year where lockdowns became the norm, and the idea of physical connectivity took a seismic shift, technology and its role come under acute focus in the narrative. The series analyzes the boom of digital platforms, providing an illuminating reflection of how cultural phenomena like Netflix’s Tiger King, and TikTok helped bring content, as well as levity and respite to millions of people worldwide. The Year: 2020 perceives 2020 as the year where the unprecedented became the norm, and the unthinkable a reality, yet elucidates the narrative through an interesting blend of grim realities and lighter moments.

The Year: 2020 is not just intent on reporting the events, but in scouring through the rubble of a tumultuous year to bring forth tales of resilience, courage, and justice that might otherwise be overlooked. It seeks to encapsulate the uniqueness of 2020 by considering its immense contrasts: the trials and tribulations faced by the global community, the cycles of life and death, hardships and triumphs, division and unity.

The series evokes a wide range of emotional responses, providing space for poignant reflection, anger, mourning, and even occasional laughter. With a narrative that’s both poignant and empowering, it serves as a testament to the resilience of humanity when confronted with challenged unprecedented in modern times.

The Year: 2020 is not simply a mirror held up to the past, but a looking glass into the future. It insists that the future’s uncertainties, even if formidable, can and will be managed through our quintessential human traits — adaptability, courage, and unity. The progression of this narrative echoes the sentiment that, in the face of devastating ordeals and collective trials, we as a global community also persistently find sparks of hope, strength, and transformation.

The Year: 2020 captures a year in the human chronicle, offering audiences a raw, intimate, and profound connection to history. The ABC series serves as a time capsule for a year that has been defined by upheaval and unanticipated turns, holding a mirror to a world that had to quickly adjust to a new normal. Rarely does a television programme so effectively encapsulate the zeitgeist in a manner that resonates deeply almost across all global fronts, weaving the personal, the political, and the global into a single narrative. This is where The Year 2020 stands exemplary.