Babylon Berlin is a new period drama that is receive a fair amount of interest from a wide range of people. Like its name suggests, it is set in Berlin. To be exact, it is set in Berlin under the Weimar Republic, which is an interesting period that tends to be overshadowed by both what preceded it and what followed it.
Here are five things that you may or may not have known about Babylon Berlin:
Its Lead Is a Police Inspector
Babylon Berlin is centered around a police inspector named Gereon Rath. Unsurprisingly, Rath is a veteran of the First World War, which has had an enormous impact on him, so much so that he has to use morphine to keep his PTSD under control. The narrative focuses on his experiences as he ventures into the criminal underworld, which is part of the overall story of Berlin in the late 1920s.
Babylon Is a Name Fraught with Meaning
The Babylon in the name of the TV show seems to have been chosen with care and consideration. After all, Babylon is a name that has taken on connotations of corrupt wealth and power, which is why it sees so much use in reference to the capitals as well as other important cities of powerful nations. Based on this name, it should come as no surprise to learn that Babylon Berlin contrasts the people celebrating in opulent nightclubs with the signs of a society becoming more and more strained, with examples ranging from the killings of political activists to the looming specter of poverty as inflation begins to overtake the economy.
Der Spiegel Called It Angst Cinema
A well-known German publication called Der Spiegel has praised Babylon Berlin for being an excellent example of German angst cinema, which is more or less exactly what it sounds like. In particular, it is interesting to note that other examples of angst cinema are sometimes said to include both Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which are so old that they are silent movies but nonetheless influential on their successors.
Relevant to Modern Times
The directors of Babylon Berlin have stated that they consider it to be relevant in modern times. In fact, they outright mentioned three separate events that they were confronted with as they made the TV show, with those events being Brexit, the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and the rise of the populist right in Europe.
Has Been Sold to Numerous Countries
The full extent of Babylon Berlin‘s success remains to be seen, but based on what is known so far, its success cannot be disputed. After all, while it has just started up in its native Germany, it has already been sold to 60 countries. Something that says a great deal about the faith that people have in its potential to appeal to viewers in not just Germany but also other countries situated all around the world. As a result, it is no wonder that Der Spiegel celebrated it for its international presence while still managing to remain quintessentially German.
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