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Reviews
Vera (2011)
So much Better than American Entertainment!
I say this over and over again! I live in the US for 28 years now. Entertainment as we know it stinks for the most part that's why I rather watch old American movies. Very few pass the mark of acceptable, nevertheless outstanding.
Vera is one of the British gems that proofs the point. Someone said one time that European movies are in general slow. That is true. It is amiss of fake action and drama but rich of true people characters. DCI Vera Stanhope is a police inspector who shows a humanity. Someone who can be cold nosed in following a case but shows warmth and compassion to those afflicted. And not of the American kind, just true warmth offered to a stranger.
To get the point across - last night I watched several episodes of Another Life. A sci-fi show about Aliens threatening the earth and astronauts trying to put a stop to it. So much of it was just Drama for the sake of it without any real content. Afterwards I felt like I wasted hours, falling half asleep while watching it.
Bodyguard: Episode #1.1 (2018)
It's British!
I happen to only watch parts of it with my wife. However, I am highly pleased that Netflix actually does have a British crime show in their repertoire.
Being a long time fan of Acorn.TV which is British and beyond other than American shows and movies, the British and the Aussies have GREAT crime shows. Nothing of the American Fair like Black List which becomes so boring and predictable. Nothing new for American entertainment. So, did I watch the show? Other than parts of it no, But what I watch with my wife is intriguing to say the least.
Fauda (2015)
So good I couldn't get away!
I literally watched the first season, that's all that Netflix has right now, in two days. Fortunately, the shows being only 45 minutes long unlike many European that are about 90 minutes, this is easily done.
For starters, I do not like American entertainment. 28 years living in America I can't stand it. The good days are long gone and today we live in a time of mediocrity where everything is drama and emotions oriented but not leaning on reality at all.
Even so, like many action shows this one is fast paced but it is fast paced in a world that is real and where sometimes days and hours DO count. Otherwise victories like the Six Day War would not have been possible.
I have read a few books on the Mossad and Dovdevan which is a counter terrorist group operating in the West Bank. One is Brotherhood of Warriors by Aaron Cohen, himself a former unit member. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3323561-brotherhood-of-warriors
Today he has a security firm in L.A. that trains police and security personal in how to truly combat terrorists. Cohen got out of it even so he has been nominated for the officers course, one not given to Jews born outside of Israel. If he would have continued that way he was afraid that he would become completely numb and callous. It was either get out now, or stay on and that's all you know.
Another one is the story of the Bielski brothers who defied Nazi terror and fought alongside with the partisans in Poland and Bellorussia. The movie DEFIANCE https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209016.The_Bielski_Brothers?from_search=true
and THE FUGITIVES OF THE FOREST https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5517610-fugitives-of-the-forest?from_search=true
which devotes some chapters to the Bielskis and how they were one of the most effective forest camps during that time.
Jews were always fighters. If European Jews would have been armed it would have been a bloody conflict to subdue them to the will of the Nazis.
To come back to the show, it is very realistic. Issues are not black and white but rather complex. Groups on both sides working together to keep the situation from getting out of line. It also shows a side to the Arab culture like the wedding where one can feel sympathy for them too. People caught up in a very confusing world. One, trying to defend their very own existence, the other being fed hatred to the Jews from the breast milk on and where life for many has no meaning.
A Perfect Day (2015)
Slow but...
This is the beauty of it. For a long time I have given up on American entertainment. Living in the US one gets constantly inundated with mindless entertainment. European movies are in general slow. They give much more time to develop the characters and thus allow the story to sink in. A Perfect Day is a great movie that shows the cultural differences and people from different countries tries working together for a common goal. It also shows the ineptness of the UN which is true all over the world.where ever they are asked to intervene. Great movie.
Deutschland 83 (2015)
Real feel.
I almost wanted to give it a 10 but what held me back is that they had to push the homosexual agenda on its viewers as is today all so common in our politically correct world.
This being said, the series is plain amazing. I was born in 1960 and immigrated to America in 1991. So I lived through that whole time era in my twenties. Sure, there is some fiction but that fiction may be only concerning the family of young Martin Rauch and the possibility that Amble Archer could have almost elicited a pre-emptive strike by the Soviets. Other than that, this is all very real. The threats East Germans, actually it is DDR and it stands for Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) had to undergo is very real. And if you wanted to get ahead, go to University, get a good job you better enlisted for the Volksarmee (People's Army). I made the acquaintance with one of the first East Germans crossing over to West Germany in the early days of Perestroika via Hungary. If he wanted to become a vet he had to be in the Volksarmee. Also, what Americans never will understand, even so there was the fear of a nuclear first strike by the Soviets, West Germany lived with the fear that they could be invaded in a night raid by Soviet tanks which would reach the French border by next morning and we would wake up in a Soviet occupied country. Also, seeing all the old news anchors and people like Willy Brandt, Kohl, and ultra communist, green party member Petra Kelly, and Heinrich Böll, even though a highly acclaimed author of many books and Nobel peace prize recipient was also a staunch socialist and gives the series authenticity. As background music throughout the series are all the popular hits of what has been labeled "Deutsche Welle" (German Wave). A kind of music that truly broke out of the former Schlagermusic and became popular not just among the German Youth but ended up in the Top 40 Charts like Nena's "99 Red Air Balloons." All in all this series stays true to the time period, the news events, the fear that existed on both sides, the emotions, and the plight of East Germans who dared to buck the system in favor of Western attitudes.
Wild at Heart (2006)
Refreshing
I give this show a 9 only because some are better than others. It is a series after all. Thanks to Roku we are able to subscribe to Acorn.TV which is all about British television and movies. Coming from Germany the regular Hollywood fare leaves much to be desired. Unlike in the UK and in Germany, here everything is over dramatized and sensationalized. This show as so many is refreshingly real. Emotions of joy and sadness are often displayed the way it would be in real life too without adding or taking anything away. Over all Wild at Heart is a show as refreshing as they come. What is also surprising that certain things do happen with the main characters that are so uncharacteristic for American shows. Without giving anything away it is what not everyone would expect from daily American TV entertainment. I give foreign movies a thumps up anytime.