1864 - Amour et Trahisons en Temps de Guerre

If you have a flair for European historical stuff, you should like this series. Background is the conflict between the then German Confederation/ Prussia and Denmark around 1860, that eventually led to a war where the already small Denmark lost a good portion of its territory. A part of which however was restituted after WW1 & Versailles after a plebiscite.

An impressive series. Well shot, with excellent representation of costumes and uniforms and the gear of these times. With a lot of themes built in, national pride, political (misled) ambitions, overestimation of the own capabilities, some love, a portrait of the political, aristocrats and peasantry classes, even some supernatural parts. I have seen only few of the actors playing in the series before, in general they deliver a decent acting, not much to criticize IMO. The actor delivering the remarkable character of Monrad is to point out for his impressive performance.

The series was ordered by the danish state I think in occasion of the 150 years anniversary of the events and delivers a fair view of the events. No glorifying nationalistic BS, but a sensible portrait of the era. You might want to read the article about the conflict in wiki first however, to get the hole background of that part of the history.

A solid production, history aficionados won't be disappointed. There has been been the usual criticism about the historical accuracy, but I wouldn't mind. There was portrayed nothing wrong in the wider scheme of the history. It seems that for this kind of "historical" series there are always accuracy pedants jumping out, while they still don't get that it is just a TV-show with aspiration to entertain, where some artistic freedom must be given, and not a documentary.

I am 59 and I can be a hard critic but this was one of the greatest dramas I have ever seen.

The production, story, acting are all outstanding. Some people may not like the anti war sentiment. Yet this drama achieves the rare thing of managing to convey powerfully both the reasons why politicians can lead us to war and the horrors that then shatter the lives of those families who fall victims to it.

I have rarely been so moved by a drama. It has tragedy, pain, humour, humanity and above all it gives a us hope - Despite death, life must go on and we owe it to the those who have fallen to live it to the fullest.

If you decide watch this drama till the very end you may be lucky and feel as enriched as I did.

Some of the negative criticism of the series is wide of the mark. The series had me hooked right from the outset. It is lyrical, well-paced story-telling, focussing on character and ideas. There are no caricatures here. The political ideas are played out through the interactions of an excellent ensemble cast, including most of the faces we have come to love in Nordic Noir. The split time sequence shows how the past influences and shapes the present and how people here and now can learn from their past. There is a joy and élan about the epic's opening which prepares us for the shock and disillusion of war. I have only seen two episodes so far, but it has me hooked. Viva Scandinavia.

Let me start off by saying that I think 1864 is a beautifully filmed series with several solid performances and a lot of work put into creating the scenery, props and costuming. That being said, it's saddled with a pretty lukewarm script. There were lots of places Bornedal could have gone with this piece of history, and at times one is confused as to why he made some of the choices he did. One of the most common complaints is the present-day connection, which does feel unnecessary at times, but what's far worse are the absolutely out-of-the-blue supernatural elements which pop up toward the middle of the series and add nothing to the story but a thoroughly shattered suspense of disbelief. Beyond that bit, I found the series to be reasonably historical. Not a documentary, mind you, but as faithful as could be reasonably expected. The other problem with the series is that it occasionally lays on the melodrama too thick, sometimes almost comically so.

TL;DR- Despite the the writing problems, I found myself captivated by this shiny, sometimes stupid period drama. (also, ep. 7 contains one of the most epic battle sequences I've seen in a long time, so there's that.)

**If you're reading this in another country, you ought to know that many ratings and reviews of this series are highly politically charged. Some liberals hate it outright because it received so much public funding, and the Danish Peoples Party hates it for its (justifiably) negative depiction of extreme nationalism and its consequences.

The Second Schleswig War is an interesting footnote in 19th century history, and it's good they made a series around it to highlight how it was experienced by different people. And for the most part it is done well; the emotionally passionate but not really all there in the head Danish Prime Minister and his friend the opera actress are both excellently portrayed. The scheming Bismarck, the internal problems facing the Prussian and Danish armies and so on are all well done. Now on a personal level I would've liked the show to be just that; the decision making of the people involved, their ideals, sympathies, mistakes and tragedies. That is what makes for good historical drama. However, such scenes are quite rare.

The problem with 1864 is that it doesn't focus too much on that, and rather wastes its time with a love-triangle between 2 brothers and their girlfriend. And on top of that an unneeded segway into some unlikeable girl and a senile grandpa in modern times reflecting on what happened in 1864. And that's a shame because there is a lot of rich history under the surface.