A German Made WWII Mini-Series: "Generation War" (1 Viewer)

[desk11desk12]

Not sure any has mentioned this 3 part mini-series (4.5 hours in total length).

I saw it on "Amazon Prime". It's in English subtitles and it's brilliant and feels authentic.

Inner conflicts of 5 young people (one is a Jew) as friends from the glory days to the defeat in May 1945.

I don't like reading subtitles but it was worth watching.

Plenty of actions scenes from Berlin, Russian front and Poland but the story is most compelling.

Here's the trailer, click here.

Carlos

 

[BHogan]

Yes, this series is quite well done. Good to know that's it's on Amazon Prime now. I think it's German name was Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter, so not sure why they changed the title significantly of the English release. I think K&C actually used it for inspiration for their Second World War German medical figures.

Brendan

 

[jazzeum]

It’s been discussed here before. I think Andy may have started a thread on it. I think it’s been referred to as the German Band of Brothers.

 

[Obee]

Yes, a brilliant series, saw it a few years back, well worth viewing to see the war from another perspective.

John

 

[farmertony]

Yes,I too saw this a few years ago and was impressed.Well worth a look.

 

[Sentaapua]

I totally recommend it, very well produced and acted, with a compelling and realistic story!

 

[Combat]

I've watched about half of it. The battle scenes are good but there is a lot of melodrama. I FF'd through the parts in Berlin about the singer. Any show from a German perspective has the quandary of wanting to maintain audience interest via liking the main characters against the historical backdrop of the atrocities. So they have a lot of atypical storylines like the German soldiers having a Jewish friend. I'm sure not every German soldier was a fanatic anti-Semite but most were.

 

[jazzeum]

I watched it again the last few days and enjoyed it; the characters were multi dimensional but all bore some guilt for Nazi Germany. Some tried to take advantage of the system like Greta, some were victims like Viktor, the Jewish character, and some just went along like the soldiers and the nurse.

The reception was mixed but generated a lot of controversy. See the Reception section in this Wikipedia article, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_War#Reception_in_Germany

 

[theBaron]

...I think it’s been referred to as the German Band of Brothers.

Yeah, some critics and reviewers said that. I think they had only a superficial knowledge of "Band of Brothers", or hadn't really watched "Generation War", or both. BoB is specially about the soldiers and the bond that forms between men facing death in combat. Though some characters in "Generation War" are soldiers, that's where any similarity ends.

It's really more similar to an earlier German series called, "Heimat" ("Homeland"), which aired back in the early 80s. That followed the fates of three families living in the Rheinland, over several generations, from just before the First World War, to the Economic Miracle. There was a sequel that carried the story into the 80s.

In that it follows the fate of several people-again, civilians, not soldiers-it's also similar to the miniseries, "Holocaust".

"Generation War" German title is, "Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter", which is, "Our Fathers, Our Mothers".

Prost!
Brad