The City and the City

In Ralph Ellison's novel The Invisible Man he convincingly describes a society where he is not seen. This happens today all over. Aborigines are invisible to white Australians. Muslims are invisible to Christians and on it goes. The City just takes reality a little further and has a state imposed invisible "other class". If you don't follow the plot first time (you are not alone) I recommend a second look and you will pick up the subtle detail in a better appreciation of the fabric being woven here.

The analogy to our world from the fictional universe of China Mieville's 'The City and the City' is both obviousand exquisite: two cities, one gleaming and prosperous, the other more resembling Geroge Orwell's 1984, occupy the same place; the people survive by of the act of will of seeing only one world. Perhaps disappointingly (and especially given Mieville's own Marxist politics), the political dimension is rather under-developed in this BBC adaptation; and David Morrissey's mumbling monontone hero is a hard character to like. As in the best science fiction, there are many interesting ideas here (especially around the concept of "breaching" the two worlds), but they feel somewhat underdeveloped, and too much of the story comes in flashback form. It made me want to read the book to see if the original made more of its foundation.

The City and the City is an interesting, intriguing, thought provoking fantasy/sci-fi detective thriller. It is shot in a grimy way with a budget that is not quite large enough to reach its ambitions but almost gets there by will power. If you look hard enough you can see some parts of Liverpool.

I did find the series rather confusing but during its transmission I visited Berlin and this gave me another dimension to understand the series.

David Morrissey plays a hard boiled detective Tyador Borlú , an Inspector in the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad. Beszel is a dinghy city with battered tower blocks, poor, with immigrants and a government that wants to drive the foreigners out. It is a Dystopian society not too far from East Germany.

Borlú is investigating the death of a an American female found dead in Beszel. However she was studying in Ul Qoma so it was a case of what was she doing here? Ul Qoma is a little bit upmarket, with glass towers, affluence and a little bit of style and intellectual sophistication. Yet it is also anti immigrant and deep down it is also a Dystopian society, maybe West Berlin of the 1970s.

Both cities exist in the same space, residents from both cities ignore each other and have been trained to unsee and ignore the other city. If you cross the cities illegally it is a breach and punishable unless you go through the official crossing points. A bit like Checkpoint Charlie.

As we follow Borlú's investigation with his new potty mouthed partner, we see flashbacks of his wife who disappeared some years earlier. Did she go to Ul Qoma and not return? Borlú crosses over to Ul Qoma and investigates some radicals who believe that there is a mythical third city called Orciny.

Morrissey is wonderful, he makes the series come alive. The City and the City is one of the best dramas of 2018.

This four-part miniseries is set in the twin cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma; to an outsider they might appear to be one city but residents have trained themselves to completely ignore the other; to notice something in the other city is a crime even if it is right next to you. It is possible to legally pass from one city to the other but once across you must ignore where you came from. Those who cross illegally come to the attention of Breach; the shadowy organisation that polices the boundaries.

Tyador Borlú is an Inspector in the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad and his latest case involves an American student found dead in the city; she shoudn't have been there though as she was studying in Ul Qoma. His investigation will lead him to Ul Qoma, to radicals who believe there is actually a third hidden city called Orciny and ultimately to Breach; only then will he discover what happened to the girl and why... also how it was linked to the disappearance of his wife some years before.

I haven't read the book and when I saw the trailers for this series I thought it might be a bit too weird; but as I like science fiction and mysteries I thought I'd give it a go. I'm glad I did as I was quickly hooked; to the extent that I watched it in one day. The setting is intriguing and the makers did a fine job of depicting the cities; the 'other' city slightly out of focus often to one side of the screen. Usually in such a story one might expect one city to be dystopian and the other utopian but here both are fairly dystopian, even if Ul Qoma appears to be more advanced. The mystery is solid and the details of the girl's death should keep one guessing till the end. We also get political machinations and a high level of threat much of the time. David Morrissey does a really good job as Borlú and he is ably supported by Mandeep Dhillon, as his new partner Constable Corwi and Maria Schrader, as Ul Qoma's Senior Detective Dhatt, amongst others. Over all I'd say this won't be for everybody but it you want something rather different I'd certainly recommend giving this a go.

Two worlds who choose to ignore and avoid the other but are physically next door to each other as part of a greater metropolis city. Just to make things even more interesting, is there a third ancient city no one wants to admit exists?