Tannbach

Now I may have led a singularly sheltered life, being born in 1952, I have seen my share of war films, and lately post-war films. I like something that tells a story, I do not like 'block buster' or big bang movies, so this series, which is as riveting as Un Village Francais in its own way, was telling the story of a small town which wakes up the morning after WWII is ended and has to deal with the repercussions. First the Americans claim them, then the Russians, then they are divided down the centre. It's fascinating, appalling and brilliant at the same time. It's realistic in that the good guys don't necessarily do the right thing all the time, and the bad guys don't necessarily get their come-uppance. In some ways it's horrific, and the horror of the post war situation contrasts strongly with the beautiful peaceful scenery of the untouched countryside and farm buildings. If you are interested in history, then this is worth a watch, purely from a different perspective - it's easy to forget that ordinary people were on all sides of the conflict and suffered., loved and lost.

Intriguing story about a real village divided by the Iron Curtain. Many personal destinies are told here, from Nazi heritage to socialist idealism, although some aspects seem poltically overloaded and hinder credibility. Some of the story twists seem very plotted, especially the second "season" is overall less well done (6*). Many talented actors don't live up to their potential, perhaps due to plot and character arc issues. Good costumes and village flair. Okay to watch but not a must see.

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.

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.

I was curious to know what really happened in the Second World War after the defeat of the Nazis in Germany. It shows step by step the construction of the new Eastern Germany DDR with the socialism values that I won't give away further here. Very good educational material with wonderful actors. They played their roles so well that I could feel with them how hard it was to live in the new zone without any democratic hopes. For every one who wants to understand how the processes in the DDR worked this is a great opportunity. It was never boring with lot of twists. Excellent direction with authentic sceneries and costumes. Check it out. 9/10.