Deutschland 89

After a tank full of red herrings, the series comes to a deserved conclusion. It is nicely worked through, although some might say a little on the cheesy side.

Looking back at the production in its totality, almost every good quality that we could have wished for was there in abundance. A dynamite script, a relentless pace, and some very classy acting ... to mention just a few.

And almost as the credits begin to roll, we are served up one final treat. Footage of President Trump extolling the virtues of his wonderful new wall. History repeats, and lessons are not always learned. In such cases, poking fun is the prerogative of the filmmaker. - 8.8/10.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching all 3 seasons. I was a teen (from the UK) during these years, so I remember quite vividly the goings on & music from this period of the Cold War era.

Due to the dynamism of the era and rapidly changing events (often chaotic) this Series may seem more hectic / less profound, but both BRD and DDR had such times in 1989... Decisions had to be taken rapidly, background information was limited, nobody knew how the USSR and West would react... I am sure there are no exaggerations in the script. Families, friends, relatives became involved in different opinions and activities plus the shadow of Stasi was around anyone - in spite of his or her former or current views.

The cast is strong here again, mostly familiar faces, with new angles and approaches. Again the mail characters and performers are more versatile here (as DDR was in fact a "male" society as all socialist countries - in spite of slogans), with Jonas Nay and Sylvester Groth most to my liking.

The ending scenes are somewhat peculiar, and it seems that Deutschland ´92 is not envisaged... Although I would not mind to see what happened to all these surviving personas in the unified Germany.

These comments assume viewers have seen the previous two series, Deutschland 83 and 86, as it is necessary to watch those to fully enjoy this series. I watched in German with English subtitles.

Another three years have passed and things are about to change forever in the DDR; it is 1989 and various Warsaw Pact countries have opened their borders and let people out... in a matter of days the Berlin Wall, the very physical symbol of a divided Europe, is going to fall. Our protagonist, Martin Rauch, is once again caught up in the key events. These see various characters trying to plan for what happens next; making the DDR a fairer, but still socialist country, facilitating reunion with the Federal German Republic or just making money. For much of the time he is joined by Nicole, his son's teacher, who he becomes romantically involved with. This will inevitably lead to many dangerous situations and further confrontations with his aunt Lenora.

I found this to be an enjoyable conclusion to the Deutschland trilogy; it nicely incorporates real events and manages to be tense even when the target of an assassination attempt is a real person who famously was not assassinated. The cast does a fine job bringing the various characters to life. There are plenty of twists and turns which take Martin and Nicole across the wall to West Germany then on to Romania and Italy then back to East Germany. There are some flaws; it does feel as if it is trying to shoehorn rather too many events of the time into the story, such as the Romanian uprising, and the epilogue comparing the Berlin Wall the Trump's US-Mexico border wall was rather crass. That didn't spoil the series though; I'd certainly recommend it to those who enjoyed '83 and '86.

Sure, it's a different tone to '83 and '86 but it hits the mark. It also manages to highlight the chaos of the times and the hypocrisy of all parties and ideologies. Good fun.