Deutschland 83
Studio: Kino Lorber
Nov 06, 2015 Web Exclusive
Martin Rauch is an intelligent, straight-laced East German soldier who wakes up to find he’s been drugged and smuggled across the border to West Germany. His aunt—part of a communist-affiliated counter-intelligence group—has unwillingly recruited him to be a spy. Seeing an opportunity, Martin makes a break for it, fleeing through the streets of Bonn and slipping into a supermarket. There, he’s frozen in his tracks—the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dream (Are Made Of This)” pulses over the market’s soundsystem—as he takes in all of the varieties of fruit a food products. The capitalist world of the West is like nothing he’s ever seen during his upbringing in East Berlin. This world can also offer him something else he can’t easily find back home: a much-needed kidney transplant for his ailing mother. In exchange for strings being pulled to move his mom up the transplant waitlist, Martin agrees to work as a spy. He’s trained, given a new identity, embedded as an aide-de-camp for a West German general, and given his first assignment.
Deutschland 83 is an addicting, German-produced espionage thriller which aired in eight parts on the SundanceTVearlier this year. A huge part of what makes it so fascinating is its seldom-seen historical setting at the front lines of the Cold War and at the height of nuclear paranoia in the 1980s. Though you’re effectively forced to root for a hero from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, allegiances are muddied as it’s made clear that both East and West Germany will likely be the first casualties of war if tensions between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. escalate to full-blown nuclear attacks. Deutschland keeps the tension up by keeping the stakes high, and gives each of Martin’s assignments—it works out to roughly one dangerous task per episode—its own smaller-scale thrills. Not only is Martin’s life at stake each time he’s asked to plant a bug or swipe top secret documents, but so are the lives of everyone he’s ever known.
The series’ soundtrack is worth mentioning, too—Deutschland 83 makes fantastic use of both diegetic and non-diegetic music, and the episodes are packed with pop songs contemporary to the setting. Duran Duran, David Bowie, Nena, New Order and many similar artists appear on the soundtrack. Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home)” serves as the series’ theme song.
If you missed the show when it aired last summer, Kino Lorber’s impressively affordable DVD set is a perfect way to marathon through it. (Trust us—it’ll be difficult to parse them out once you’ve started.) Extra features include a 20-minute Q&A session with the cast and crew filmed in NYC as well as about 20 minutes’ worth of additional interviews. This one’s highly recommended.
www.kinolorber.com/video.php?id=2117
Author rating: 8/10
Most Recent
- WFR Central, Derby, UK, March 23, 2024 (Review) — Altern 8, Maria Uzor, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Cholly
- Premiere: Sofia Bolt Shares New Single “Bus Song” Featuring Stella Donnelly (News) — Sofia Bolt
- St. Vincent Shares New Song “Flea” (Feat. Dave Grohl) and Announces New Tour Dates (News) — St. Vincent, Dave Grohl
- Elbow – Guy Garvey on Their 10th Album “AUDIO VERTIGO” (Interview) — Elbow, Guy Garvey
- Vampire Weekend Share New Song “Mary Boone” (News) — Vampire Weekend
Comments
Submit your comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.