Continuing to expand my effort to stay away from all things Trump and explore culture outside America in 2020 I have begun watching the 10 part German series “Dogs of Berlin” available on Netflix.
It’s a multi-cultural police drama which delves into the societal conflicts impacting German life. “Dogs of Berlin” is fast paced, well acted and continuously entertaining.
You could say that “Dogs of Berlin” is the 21st century version of “Babylon Berlin,” the multi-season drama, which explores life in the underbelly of the Weimar Republic in pre-Nazi Germany.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.6.2018
Only the second German-language TV series produced on Netflix’s global streaming network after the hit supernatural thriller Dark (though historical detective drama Babylon Berlin also played on the service), Dogs of Berlin is a rollicking and often brutal drama series with a gangsta rap soundtrack that dives deep into the German capital’s criminal underbelly — and its social heterogeneity.
Contrasting milieus
Dogs of Berlin‘s labyrinthine plot revolves around two unconventional cops, Erol Birkan and Kurt Grimmer, who investigate the murder of German-Turkish football star Orkan Erdem. There’s a long list of potential suspects: Neo-Nazis from the former East Berlin district of Marzahn; the Turkish family clan related to the victim; some crazy football fans; or the illegal sports betting mafia. A far-reaching conspiracy might even lead to the capital’s highest political office.
To uncover the truth, the two very different investigators are reluctantly brought together for a mission that will reveal much about their own contradictory pasts.
Dogs of Berlin director and mastermind Christian Alvart describes Kurt Grimmer (Felix Kramer, who appeared in Netflix’s Dark) as the “morally questionable policeman who used to be a neo-Nazi and escaped the scene.”
By contrast, Erol Birkan (played by Fahri Yardım, best-known for his turn in Almanya: Welcome to Germany) is “a super liberal, Turkish, gay policeman, the upright hero so to speak, principled and with good character.”
Bad cop, good cop: Kurt Grimmer (Felix Kramer) and Erol Birkan (Fahri Yardim)
“These contradictions and gray areas are for me a central point of this series,” said Alvert, who is also the series scriptwriter and originally conceived with the conflicted Kurt Grimmer character for a novel he was writing.
Contemporary German storytelling
“I was simply convinced that we have to do something like this in this country,” he said.
Katharina Schüttler plays Kurt Grimmer’s wife Paula, a home accessories shop owner who also gets caught up in the underworld intrigue
So while Dogs of Berlin was the first idea developed by Alvart and his Berlin-based production company, Syrreal Entertainment, he decided not to go down the conventional German TV route.
As a result, his idea for an original German production is only the second to be produced by Netflix after Dark — though more are rumored to be in the works.
“Dogs of Berlin tells a compelling and modern German story that dives into the Berlin underworld,” said Erik Barmack. “We are thrilled that he will realize our second Netflix original that will be completely written, produced and shot in Germany.”
Berlin as a microcosm
Having lived in the German capital since 1996, Alvert has always wanted to make a series that embodied the city’s manifold worlds.
“In Berlin you sooner or later realize that this is not just a city, but actually many very different cities in one,” he said. “It has a massive impact on your life, whether you are born as Mahmud in Neukölln, Siegfried in Zehlendorf or Tom in Marzahn.”
Dog of Berlin seeks to cross through these different Berlins, a city the director believes is a microcosm of the broader world. “The city is basically another main character in this series,” said Alvert.
The series’ gangsta soundtrack adds to the underworld atmosphere.
In doing so, the series also aims to ask some bigger questions. Can one escape from the environment into which one was born? Are we dogs or masters? By exploring the diverse milieus of the German capital where cultures and lifestyles constantly collide, the series, shot exclusively in Berlin and environs, inspires the viewer to find answers.
https://www.dw.com/en/dogs-of-berlin-capital-crime-series-debuts-on-netflix/a-46602494
Lee's Perspective 