GR5

EN: I decided to give GR5 a go since I also enjoy long distance trekking and hoped it would remind me of my past hikes on the Caminos in Spain the Via Transilvanica or various UK trails. The overall quality was decent with good acting and a solid plot. Violet Braeckman was especially amazing in her role. The ending felt a bit strange though as it left some questions unanswered and Lisa seemed to be hiding things that happened to her on the trail. The scenery was stunning throughout especially in the Alps which really made me dream about doing the GR5 myself one day if time allows. It was an enjoyable watch that brought back a few trail memories.

As a patriot and an admirer of local Flemish television & cinema, I see it as my duty to globally promote the great films and TV-series that are being made in my home country. Since 2010, Belgium - and Flanders in particular - has brought forward quite a few qualitative TV-series that can easily compete with the finest productions that Netflix has to offer, notably "Beau Séjour", "Tabula Rasa", "Undercover", "The Twelve" and "The Day". The expectations for "GR5" were set extremely high as well, since it has many things in common with the aforementioned series: an original plot concept, unexpected story twists and plenty of suspense/atmosphere. I really enjoyed the series, no doubt about that, but in the end it's not as impactful and staggering as I hoped it would be.

GR5 stands for "Grand Route 5", which is the name of a famous European hiking path of more than 2.000 kilometers, from the West-coast of the Netherlands all the way down to Nice in the South of France. Five years ago, 18-year-old Lisa mysteriously disappeared whilst she walked the GR5 all by herself. She was supposed to undertake the long trek with her four closest friends, but they all bailed out last minute. The guilt-ridden friends now decide to walk the distance after all, to shoot a documentary in honor of Lisa and hopefully uncover new clues that lead to her.

The long hike naturally reveals copious amounts of dark secrets from the past, between the friends mutually as well as between Lisa and her parents. Each of the friends also still battles their own personal demons, and they regularly get confronted with the fact they all hurt and disappointed Lisa tremendously. Some of the "revelations" are clever and tense, but sadly there are also the usual cliché twists and predictable liaisons. But hey, there's nothing a little bit of "suspension of disbelief" can't solve. At least the atmosphere is always stressful, and the filming locations are phenomenal. I read a lot of criticism regarding the acting performances, especially of the young cast members, but I sincerely disagree. Violet Braeckman and Boris Van Severen are multi-talented, and they receive good support from enthusiast new-arrivals Laurian Callebaut and Saïd Boumazoughe. The denouement is a risky and guaranteed to divide audiences. Personally, I didn't like it at first, but when it sank it completely, I do feel it's a very courageous and refreshing ending.

I agree, this is excellent television and deserves the attention of those who did not see it. Great nature and views, interesting story, intriguing, exciting, good cast, ... Me and my friends, collegues, family, .... were very enthousiastic about this! Do watch this, if you didn't see it!

The story could be told in less episodes, maybe 6 instead of 8, because there is a lot of talking and establishment and even repetition in the first few episodes.

As in every good mystery series there are some clever detours and I especially liked the human story of Ylena's character.

Overall he story continues to intrigue and you want to know what happened to Lisa. At the end, you are then left a bit hungry because that very question is not fully answered. Many secrets do come out in the course of the series, but Lisa's is kept. In the end it turns out that all the characters had to undertake the trip themselves to come to terms with their past.

I don't really understand the bad reviews here. Granted, the side-stories (the different dangerous encounters), are maybe a little bit over the top but for the rest this series is a masterpiece. Beautifully filmed, the music is great and it's all about intense real feelings: the longing for adventure, feeling trapped in normal life, prejudging, extreme and raw grieve, sorrow, the impact of lies and the impact of having the feeling to have no roots at all. About friendship, complex and forbidden love, mortality and killed innocence. About trauma and loneliness. And even about honest feelings about the complexity of having children (not all sunshine, not at all).

Maybe it's because I recognize a lot that I like it, but it's certainly not as a bad as sometimes written here. Also the GR5 is a character and a vocation to the beauty of European nature.

It touched me and I want to see it again.