Babylon Berlin

The times that in Chinese curses are called “interesting” are also interesting to many authors of films and TV series. The reason is that they often provide all sorts of extreme scenarios and situations which, to the audience—especially one situated in more peaceful and comfortable spatiotemporal coordinates—appear far more entertaining than they do to the characters forced to live through them. Among others, this i…

I am coming to you with a strong suggestion Babylon Berlin is what Peaky Blinders would have wanted to become if it hadn’t ended up as an over-stylized, slow-motion whiskey ad for moodboards in aspiring neo-traditional barbershops. Both series: - Are period dramas set in the '20s-'30s - Take place in major cities of Northern Europe (Birmingham-Berlin) - Follow a crime drama format with historical-political undertone…

Germany between the two world wars: a setting for all types of social unrest, economic turmoil, and the aspiration of great ideals. A stark juxtaposition of abject poverty and unprecedented financial gains, of social movements from the radical to the reactionary, all set to a backdrop of a relatively progressive, yet nonetheless brutal state. Given all these sentiments of change and upheaval, all the sex, money, cri…

Set between the two wars, Babylon Berlin is a period piece that displays the social complexities of the 1930's, a time where one war has recently ended, and another is quietly brewing in plain-sight. Berlin's troublesome politics connect with drama, as we witness the poverty of unstable veterans and their struggles with addiction, the poverty of families victim of the working class, grouped together and taking extre…