Tannbach

WW II brought misery to all the countries involved - particularly for the common people who lost a lot, irrespective of being part of a "winning" or a "losing" nation. The battles were over, Nazi structures dismantled - but people in many parts of Europe could not find the solution they had hoped. A culprit here was the Soviet Union, its Stalinism hoping to evolve their world revolution idea on the ashes of dismantled states and emerging hopes.

Tannbach gives a realistic picture of the era and events not too much depicted so far. Well, as the time frame is apparently too long for a miniseries, the course of events is not always smooth, and some motives may remain vague or incomprehensible to outsiders. Still, the characters are good, dynamic, so are the performances, particularly the female ones; and the changes in moods and attitudes are tackled in realistic manner. I really wanted to see what would happen next, and there were more interesting angles than clichés.

True, I am unable to know how all this is perceived by those remembering similar events or Germans today or those living outside Europe, so I can comprehend if this series does not bespeak very wide audiences. It is definitely not a story for "clear minds" and ignorant people.

PS Season 2 is a bit arid, and death of an interesting main character did not amend this either... But still, a good series, and realistic. The ending scenes hinted that Season 3 might come.

Odd, I watched S1/ep1, 2, 3 and S2/ep 1, 2, 3. The final episode seemed to be unfinished, as though there needed to be further episodes, so as to tell the complete story.

Very often we think of WWII in terms of the horrors, be it an atomic bomb, or a concentration camp. This series brings us to the continuation of the ''end'', and how, in a sense, continues to this day. It's a village version of the seperation of Berlin. As such, you get much closer to the small village feel, and as a result, to the people. The acting is first rate - no stupid one-liners or unecessary expressions. . Lauterbach is excellent as the distant and guilt-ridden aristocrat/father. Uhl is first rate as a stoic mother with survival instincts that will surprise you. The others are just as fanatastic. I have rarely seen such a touching series that portrays so effectively the two sides of the same and one coin. A sad and touching testimony of a moment in history of a great and proud nation, and a very human one at that.

This production is so awful it made me write this review.

The dialogues, acting and filming (esp. Lighting and grading) are so incredibly bad that it's not possible to follow the storyline.

My guess is that the positive feedback is based on the main/true story and the interpretation of the translation into different languages but the direction and acting are simply bad, yes almost silly in the original German language.

It's disturbing how insensitive a post WWII story can be. I'm German and I watched the German original and I can assure you that it's a waste of time and you'd better be off with one of the documentaries about this topic. Which is of course incredible interesting.

It's a shame that broadcasting fees have been used to produce yet another lousy German TV production.

The first series was shown in the UK back in 2017 and I really enjoyed it both for the history and the personal tragedies that unfold. The interesting stories are with the conflicts between the characters and their changing fortunes and their priorities with the sides they choose to take as their village is divided.

There is some lighthearted moments but mostly this is a tale of the harsh reality of a nation that lost its' way and power and how the people have to come to terms with this and their villages' division under the super powers.

I was excited to learn of a second series but it was unavailable in the UK so I went to the extreme of buying a subtitled DVD version from New Zealand. It was well worth it. The second series does feel unfinished and it could do with a third, however, I expect there is not much more you could do but tackle the eventual reunification and that has been told in other German series in recent years like the excellent Deutschland 83/86/89.