Some elements of this series are superb and spell binding but some are just downright irritating. The soundtrack leaves much to be desired -- atonal jazz doesn't draw me in, more period music would have helped. Why the constant shifting back and forth between colour and black and white? I could find no meaning in it and it looked more like the director couldn't afford colour for the entire series so he used it only when he could afford it. Also a little more flushing out of some characters and downplaying of others. Herman had too large a role to play in the last two episodes in my opinion while Glasisch who is the narrator took me forever to figure out he was related to the main family. I wanted to know more about Lucie but she all but disappears from the storyline after 1948, and why Apollonia is even in the film at the beginning is a red herring, she never reappears. I fully expected Paul to have taken up with her in America. Why was the father cut out of the afterlife scene? It sounds to me like they couldn't afford to hire him back or the actor had died... not that he wasn't there because he was blind... Why did Anton go deaf because of a lack of vitamins? I didn't even know that Robert had gone to the Russian front in 1945... There were too many loose ends and red herrings throughout the series.
On the other hand, I loved the development of the village from a rural backwater to a quaint German town that was desperate to modernize and ripped out its century old doors and covered up its half timber walls with fake siding. I loved how they aged most of the characters very believably and how their stories intertwined with each other. I loved how the National Socialist Movement slowly infiltrated the village and how each member of the village became a part of the war machine in various ways and at different levels of interest.
There was much to admire about this series but it sure could have had 3 hours edited out of it without any problem or cutting of the storyline. It kept switching from brilliant to boring throughout the entire series. I am glad I watched it but I won't watch it again! I gave it a 7 out of 10 because it is worthy of much acclaim but I really wanted to give it a 10 for the good parts and a 1 for the bad parts.
On the other hand, I loved the development of the village from a rural backwater to a quaint German town that was desperate to modernize and ripped out its century old doors and covered up its half timber walls with fake siding. I loved how they aged most of the characters very believably and how their stories intertwined with each other. I loved how the National Socialist Movement slowly infiltrated the village and how each member of the village became a part of the war machine in various ways and at different levels of interest.
There was much to admire about this series but it sure could have had 3 hours edited out of it without any problem or cutting of the storyline. It kept switching from brilliant to boring throughout the entire series. I am glad I watched it but I won't watch it again! I gave it a 7 out of 10 because it is worthy of much acclaim but I really wanted to give it a 10 for the good parts and a 1 for the bad parts.