Just when I suspected the golden age of TV might be in decline after close to twenty years (counting from the advent of the Sopranos) along comes Babylon Berlin. What a savage swath through the Weimar Republic, that time in Germany between the World Wars. Were I to recount the plot, the multiple plots, the plots with the plots, this review would go on for many pages. Even Wikipedia has trouble keeping up. First, nothing is at it seems. The heroes often topple off their perches and the villains sometimes show flashes off humanity. No one trusts anyone and with good reason because no one is trustworthy. Morals are beside the point; betrayals are the politics of the day. And amazingly, according to what I read, the history in this series is not exaggerated: this is the way it was in the Weimar Republic.
The production values are fabulous; this is one good-looking movie. Berlin is bright, yet dark, completely addictive. The acting is superb, ranging from a conflicted detective, who reminds one of Clint Eastwood, to an actress who lights up the screen each time she appears, the lovely and very talented Liv Lisa Fries who plays Charlotte, a child of the slums, who has the strange ambition to be a homocide detective.Even the minor characters are sharply drawn.Contributing mightly to the verisimilitude: the costuming which is anything but costuming: these people look as if they had been wearing those peaked lapels and flapper gowns all their lives.
Someone said this might be the greatest serial film of all time. Hard to say that when you have such brilliant forays as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Fargo but I think they may be right. My only criticism is with the dubbed version in English; everyone has an American accent which is off-putting. The second time around I'm going to try to find the original German version which I understand exists.
The golden age rolls on.
The production values are fabulous; this is one good-looking movie. Berlin is bright, yet dark, completely addictive. The acting is superb, ranging from a conflicted detective, who reminds one of Clint Eastwood, to an actress who lights up the screen each time she appears, the lovely and very talented Liv Lisa Fries who plays Charlotte, a child of the slums, who has the strange ambition to be a homocide detective.Even the minor characters are sharply drawn.Contributing mightly to the verisimilitude: the costuming which is anything but costuming: these people look as if they had been wearing those peaked lapels and flapper gowns all their lives.
Someone said this might be the greatest serial film of all time. Hard to say that when you have such brilliant forays as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Fargo but I think they may be right. My only criticism is with the dubbed version in English; everyone has an American accent which is off-putting. The second time around I'm going to try to find the original German version which I understand exists.
The golden age rolls on.