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byronius

(7,394 posts)
Sun Mar 4, 2018, 06:18 PM Mar 2018

'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.





13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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'Babylon Berlin' is us -- ninety years ago and six inches over. It's amazing. (Original Post) byronius Mar 2018 OP
Thanks for the review mcar Mar 2018 #1
K&R nt steve2470 Mar 2018 #2
K&R for visibility. nt tblue37 Mar 2018 #3
Shows the gritty reality of life as society falls down. BSdetect Mar 2018 #4
Babylon Berlin lindalou65 Mar 2018 #5
Great. Now -- what the hell is it?? RandomAccess Mar 2018 #6
It's a Netflix series, sorry, I should have said. byronius Mar 2018 #7
Thanks. NOW it sounds really interesting. ;-) RandomAccess Mar 2018 #8
I have been watching this on Netflix as well. smirkymonkey Mar 2018 #9
Thanks PatSeg Mar 2018 #10
I started watching it two days ago after reading your OP Ligyron Mar 2018 #11
Started watching based on your review and suffragette Mar 2018 #12
Sounds like a good show. Thanks. jalan48 Mar 2018 #13

lindalou65

(253 posts)
5. Babylon Berlin
Sun Mar 4, 2018, 07:28 PM
Mar 2018

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)
6. Great. Now -- what the hell is it??
Sun Mar 4, 2018, 08:22 PM
Mar 2018

I took a brief dive into Google and found out it's a German series.

Where are you seeing it??

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
9. I have been watching this on Netflix as well.
Mon Mar 5, 2018, 05:55 PM
Mar 2018

It is an excellent series - although very intense and frightening at times. Well done and great acting.

Ligyron

(7,627 posts)
11. I started watching it two days ago after reading your OP
Tue Mar 6, 2018, 03:09 PM
Mar 2018

It's great! One can't help but cheer for the Lotte character (among others).

Thank you so much!

suffragette

(12,232 posts)
12. Started watching based on your review and
Thu Mar 8, 2018, 04:56 PM
Mar 2018

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.

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