The fantastic German series Babylon Berlin which takes a deep dive into Weimar as the Nazi regime ascends. It is must watching. In this election year where Trump continues to shred American institutions Babylon Berlin is a sobering, albiet fictionalized, account of life in a country where Nazi rule is on the horizon.
Excerpted from Variety 12.20.2019
Events unspool in fall 1929, in the weeks of tumult sparking Black Friday’s stock market crash.
A world premiere on Dec. 16 hinted, with its creators’ and cast comments, at what’s new, and the series’ growing relevance to the present day.
Produced again by Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool, pan-European pay TV giant Sky, German public network ARD Degeto and Munich-based production-sales house Beta Film, Season 3 follows police Inspector Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) and flapper clerk Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) as they investigate the murder of an actress on a film set. Meanwhile, Germany’s covert rearmament gathers pace as both the Black Reichswehr and Communists conspire to bring down democracy. None of which halts Berlin’s extraordinary nightlife.
History did not turn out as Germans expected, at least in 1929. In Season 3 Ep. 1, Charlotte and her sister rehearse dreams for the future , Charlotte still intent on becoming Germany’s first female homicide detective. Audiences will watch with a glimmer of hope for her, but also with a sense of disquieted premonition.