1864

This show is riveting. The production values, cinematography, acting, script and period setting are all excellent. The build up to the 2nd war between Denmark and Prussia from 1851 through to 1883 is done really well with excellent character development - from children to men joining the army. I'm not sure why other users have given this show such low ratings I don't think it deserves them at at all. The link to modern day Denmark does work and does make sense - at least to me. Some people have commented that all the leaders are portrayed as crazy and the ordinary people just lambs to the slaughter. At least one of the key members of parliament (and a Bishop) admits to being a bit mad and comes from a family that has insanity in it. He's used by those who wish to pursue the land claim against Prussia. I think the political machinations shown are probably pretty accurate for the time the show is set. Bismark is actually shocked at the actions of the Danes. Anyway, I would thoroughly recommend this show, give it some time and patience and you will be rewarded.

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.

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.

An epic drama about one of the most crucial events shaping modern Denmark (or rather cutting away 1/3 of the nation, Schleswig-Holstein, mainly German speaking). Fantastic sound, picture (remarkable use of different weather conditions) and epic, "beautyfull" (hmmm....can one say that?) very realistic battle scenes, some of the best made in European movies for a long time i believe. Thats the 5 of the 6 stars. Storyline and acting is confusing though. The overplay and "over"-telling the message "war is bad, all generals and politicians are nationalists / more or less cold at heart or even bordering to crazy, and all the soldiers are victims"..... This simply ruins the series. Nationalism and war is much more complex than that and Bornedal fails to tell this story....even though he had a whole candy box of opportunities. He could have chosen a Danish minority family in German Holstein or a German minority family in Danish majority area Schleswig. Or why not the Swedish connection (the "nationalist awakening" of being Scandinavian brothers happened in this century after Sweden, Norway and Denmark had fought each other for over 1000 years), so this brotherhood that now stands for the Scandinavian soul today almost made the Swedish king deploy 15000 troops to Denmark to fight Prussia in this war. Or why not a Polish family living in exile in Denmark. Poland (a Danish Neighbor)disappeared from the map (about 120 years) in 1795 after roughly 1000 years of existence, divided by the big powers of Europe. Denmark was also afraid of simply to disappear, one reason for this war in 1864. These stories could very well describe the complexity of nationalism: identity, fear, hope, pride, community, cultural tradition and identity, language etc. Nationalism is not only Adolf H. and other idiots. Bornedal choice as side stories then: A Roma (Gypsy) family (????) and a healing Harry Potter that can do Hypnosis and see into the future.....WHAT THE F....happened.....Some errors in the historical facts is OK (Colonel Max Müller was not at all at Dybbøl and so on)...and the main characters are fine.....but failing to grab some of the most obvious good side stories and replace them with irrelevant and clairvoyant crap is nothing more but a big time failure from Bornedal....sadly....loosing the obvious opportunity to depict the complexity and horror of war and national identity, instead making it halfway a 70-hippie "all politicians are bad" story. This is a big big shame..... therefore only max. 6 stars (could have been 10 with that fantastic and historically spot-on scenery). We lost the war and now also the series about it.....Lets hope the movie version will cut out the "noice" of this series.......and bring the epic beautiful drama it could be.....

In 1864, Denmark launched what seems in retrospect an inexplicable war of national expansion. It ended in ignominious defeat at the hands of Bismark's Prussian army. '1864' attempts to tell the story of this war, and is both a personal tale centred on a number of its protagonists, and perhaps also, a story of the eventual birth of the Denmark we know today, the peaceful modern social democracy that eventually superseded the nationalist pretensions of the 19th century. There's been a lot of Danish drama released internationally in recent years, but it's a small country, and fans of other Danish series will recognise a huge proportion of the cast in this one. But sadly, '1864' does not live up to the standards of 'The Killing' or 'Borgen'. It's slow, ponderous, repetitive, obvious and the attempt to wrap up the 19th century story in a contemporary wrapping further reduces the immediacy of the drama. The budget for battle scenes, meanwhile, seems to have been spent entirely in episode 7, which is impressive in itself, but the rest of the episodes speak of war without actually showing it very much. And we never really understand just how the Danish politicians thought that the war could actually be won. Outside of Denmark, the war of 1864 is a little known quirk of European history; I'd be interested to know more, but in spite of its 8 hour duration, I finished this drama still frustratingly uninformed.