Mundo em Chamas

Really amazed at amount of critical reviewers who base their criticism of a drama on history. This is a fictional account of some personal experiences of WWII not a documentary. Using your criteria, then all drama must be reviewed in terms of history and condemned if not absolutely accurate. Also, amazed that some reviewers are concerned about the bad depiction of Nazis and the display of blatant homophobic remarks as well as using the typical PC attack. I do see homophobic remarks in many reviews of any movie/series that has major gay roles. Looks like lots of right-wing and possibly Nazi nuts reviewing this but I guess that is to be expected when WWII related presentations are involved. But even with all this negativity, it has a decent rating because this series is well presented and acted. Great dramatic presentation of personal experiences and the challenges and heartache they faced in a horrific crisis.

Season 1 was something to watch when you felt like a WW2 drama that included a bit of everything, but it wasn't engrossing, and I even forgot to watch the end of the series.

Then season 2 arrived. Whatever happened in the years between I'm not sure, but the dialogue is just woeful, and the production seems like it was all done on the cheap - the desert scenes looked like they were made on a movie lot in the 50s, and I thought the gestarpo interrogation scenes were part of some comedy skit!

There were so many different story lines going on at the same time with no connection it just all felt very disjointed.

I'm not sure if it was the characters or the people playing them but they were pretty annoying a lot of the time. The only part worth watching was with Lesley Manville - and now Mark Bonnar has appeared I'm hoping it might get better.

Below the line is my original post.

I've just finished episode 4, and I've lowered my rating to a "2/10". Unbelievable that they've obviously used writers that have *zero* knowledge of basic warfare, or tactics of WWII. The British soldiers are portrayed as unorganised idiots that are so happy-go-lucky that they keep getting surprised by Germans because they don't even post sentries! For the record, at the beginning of the war, Brits were fierce warriors, even though severely outgunned.

The Germans in Poland keep falling for the female bait to their doom, but there's no retaliation against the innocent citizens?!

Oh, it's getting very, very bad, and not even Sean Bean can help this one.

I'll keep watching, but *only* because there's three episodes left.

Original.....................................................................................V

I was quite stoked for this after the first episode, even excusing some of the bad writing. I gave it a generous "9".

After the second episode, it's obvious that the men are weak, bumbling incompetents.

All the women are the leaders, strong, defiant, organized, and in charge.

Too bad that Hollywood has corrupted British film makers...

My rating slid to "5" stars, I'll adjust as necessary as the series progresses.

Nice to see the polish side of the story and how horrifying it all was. Glad the bbc used well known polish actors rather than British actors with accents. Lends an authenticity to proceedings. Well acted throughout and great to see heavyweights like Helen hunt and Sean bean and Lesley Manville in tv

This well intentioned series surprises in some ways. After seeming cliched at first the characters surprise with some unexpectedly interesting stories that cover unfamiliar WW2 movie ground. The Polish point of view at the beginning of the war is interesting. The triangle between the pretty Manchester singer, the feisty Polish resistance fighter and the soldier translator caught in between is quite amusing. The best story is the initially nasty Mother of the guy and how she comes round to the working class Sean Bean and the Polish refugee boy. Some characters seem like forced inclusion for diversity. Like Helen Hunt's reporter concerns over euthanasia programmes and the gay doctor and his lover. Some "modern" themes of shell shock and doubt are portrayed here. No comic book super heroes here.

It takes some concentration to get used to the different characters but once you get them sorted out it's quite good.

Of the cast Leslie Manville stands out. The Polish actress who plays the resistance fighter is convincing and authentic. Jonah Hauer King looks like he comes straight from a WW2 poster. The cast is fine but the directing could be more clear. Another fault is the Manchester accents of some of the cast are too thick to understand.

Surprisingly well made and engrossing.