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| A group of Actors perform a dance number in the Mobster financed 'Dämonen der Leidenschaft.' Image Credit: Frédéric Batier / X Filme Creative |
History as a Wheel
Staffel 3 of the historical crime drama Babylon Berlin is superb. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy for Christmas, and then proceeded to finish all 12 of the Staffel's episodes in about a week and a half.
Babylon Berlin is based on novels by Volker Kutscher. Staffel 1 and 2 were based on the novel Der nasse Fisch (The Wet Fish). The most recent season begins in the waning months of 1929, just before the Great Depression begins.
The show is one of the most expensive German television series ever made. An estimated €38 - €45 million was spent making Babylon Berlin's first 16 episodes.
The Euros were well spent. The series' acting, costumes, sets, and production values in general are superb.
Staffel 3 opens with a bang - the leading lady's murder in a glitzy futuristic romance titled: Dämonen der Leidenschaft (Demons of Passion.) Since the film is financed by Edgar Kasabian (Misel Maticevic) AKA: The Armenian - a leading figure in Berlin's Mafia underworld - the case demands attention from the Berlin Polizei's best & brightest.
So it falls to Homicide Inspector Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) and his lady friend Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) to discover the Murderer's identity. By now Charlotte is an official member of the Berlin Police. One of this season's more interesting subplots concerns how she navigates the 'man's world' of policing and the prejudices of some of her more conservative colleagues.
While Gereon and Charlotte are investigating the Actress's murder, we are shown how ordinary Berliners are investing funds they do not have in a red hot Stock Market. Manic Depressive Industrialist Alfred Nyssen (Lars Eidinger) has made a large wager on the market being disrupted by an event of Earthquake-like proportions. Which, of course, it eventually is.
At the same time members of the fledgling NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis as they are commonly known) are organizing politically with the help of friends in high places. One of those friends is Oberst Gottfried Wendt (Benno Fürmann) an ambitious and cunning Politician with his eye on Police Chief Karl Zörgiebel's (Thomas Thieme) job.
On the Straße Nazis are organizing using the muscle of their Brown Shirts militia. Young German men who are athletically and intellectually promising are being groomed by early Hitler Youth Groups. Gereon's own son Moritz (Ivo Pietzcker) is shown joining such a group. He hunts with them, fights with them, and begins learning Nazi prejudices and hatreds through his new friends. At one point his father warns young Moritz that he is hanging out with the wrong sort of people.
In my favourite plotline of Staffel 3 Hitler's Brown Shirts are hunting down Samuel Katelbach (Karl Markovics) a flinty Newspaper Man who has successfully exposed the secret re-arming of the Reichswehr and Luftwaffe. As a trained Journalist I love stories where a put-upon Reporter takes a big risk to make sure the truth comes to light.
Karl Markovics is a wonderful Actor. He does a superb job of breathing life into this role and making his character believable.
To conclude — one of the real pleasures of watching Babylon Berlin is that it brings to mind the idea of History as a Wheel. Something that happens in an ever repeating cycle.
Even though the series is a heavily fictionalized version of real events, as Viewers we come to understand why events such as Wars and Economic Depressions are repeated. Albeit with different actors and grievances.
Babylon Berlin is a superb work of historical crime drama. Highly recommended for television viewers with discerning tastes.
An alle meine Leser und Leserinnen, willkommen im Jahr 2021.
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