General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'Babylon Berlin' is us -- ninety years ago and six inches over. It's amazing.
I've never seen anything like this before. Shockingly artistic and intelligent, gripping, prescient. The Best.
It is intense, and made all the more so by the absolute reflection of the modern US crisis. What a story. Good Germans struggle against ruthless militarists to keep Germany from descending into brutal decay -- in 1929. It's terrifying, gorgeous and just so Real.
Modern humanity is a beautiful promise that carries a curse. People who love democracy struggle against people who do not. The proportion of those, and their relative strength and skillset, determines whether or not the democracy survives or fails.
Of course, the protectors of democracy play by rules that the destroyers do not. Opportunistic nationalism is an incompetent creed, practiced by the incompetent -- but because they have no guiding principle other than insect-thinking, they gain the advantage. People who will gerrymander and vote-suppress and coordinate with a foreign power get the upper hand over people who respect and observe the boundaries of civilized democratic behavior.
'Babylon Berlin' is about a time and place where the protectors of democracy became outmaneuvered and overwhelmed. It is, at its core, a heart-pounding horror story. Because we all know the ending.
It's not us. We just haven't been this close to true failure since the Civil War, and now our complacency and smallness are disappearing in the face of our possible destruction. They're going to lose, and we're going to fix this.
But in Berlin, in 1929 -- there were people just like us, who tried desperately to hold on to democracy and were washed away in conflagration.
They were so brave, to fight that fight and fail.
This is an inspiring, intuitive, important, action-packed thriller that burns with relevance. So good.
mcar
(43,179 posts)Looks interesting.
steve2470
(37,461 posts)tblue37
(65,973 posts)BSdetect
(9,040 posts)lindalou65
(265 posts)I watched the first 3 segments of this. It is very intense I think but I really do like it and will watch all of the segments. I agree with you that this is an excellent crime thriller that is so relevant for these times we are now in. Your review is excellent, by the way.
Thanks!
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)I took a brief dive into Google and found out it's a German series.
Where are you seeing it??
byronius
(7,515 posts)RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It is an excellent series - although very intense and frightening at times. Well done and great acting.
PatSeg
(49,531 posts)I have that on my Netflix list. You gave me the motivation to watch it.
Ligyron
(7,821 posts)It's great! One can't help but cheer for the Lotte character (among others).
Thank you so much!
suffragette
(12,232 posts)it is everything you said.
Also, I can't get the song from the club scene out of my mind.
Perfect musical punctuation to a very well done and thought provoking series.