TV Show - Dark

First ever German language series on Netflix
Dubbed in English
Premiered: 2/1/17
Seasons:  3
Number of Episodes: 24
Length of Episode: about 50 minutes
IMBd: 8.8
RT Critic's Consensus Season 1:   Dark's central mystery unfolds slowly, both tense and terrifying, culminating in a creepy, cinematic triumph of sci-fi noir.
RT Critic's Consensus Season 2:  Dark's sumptuous second season descends deeper into the show's meticulously-crafted mythos and cements the series as one of streaming's strongest and strangest science fiction stories.
RT Critic's Consensus Season 3: Dark's final chapter is as thrilling as it is bewildering, bringing viewers full circle without sacrificing any of the show's narrative complexities.
: RT Audience Score:  94/95
cag: 4
Produced by: Netflix

Characters:  So, so many!  Four families:  Kahnwald, Nielsen, Tiedemann, Doppler (three generations of each).... Check out Wikipedia

My comments:  Loved Season 1, got terribly confused with seasons 2 and 3, even with making a family tree list.  By the time I got to the end of Season 3 I had pretty much figured everyone out.  Adding two worlds to the original world was hard on me, lol!  Satisfying ending. Loved the actors.  Loved that it took place in Germany.

Storyline from IMBd: A family saga with a supernatural twist, set in a German town, where the disappearance of two young children exposes the relationships among four families.

 

 

 

32. The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

listened on Audible
2017, William Morrow
356 pgs.
Ad Historical Fiction
Finished: 4/7/18
Goodreads rating:  3.89 - 28,302 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Mostly WW II and aftermath, Germany

First line/s: "The day of the countess's famous harvest party began with a driving rain that hammered down on all the ancient von Ligenfels castle's sore spots -- springing leaks, dampening floors,  and turning its yellow facade a slick, beetle-like black."

My comments:  This book had a point of view a bit different from other World War II fiction that I've read.  Three German women, all mothers, all widows, and all from very different backgrounds, come together to survive in the aftermath of what Hitler has done to Germany.  It follows them and their offspring from 1938 until 1991.  This is an interesting look at the lives of the German people as they decided whether to joint the Nazi party, to fight against it, or just go along with it.

Goodreads synopsis: Three women, haunted by the past and the secrets they hold
          Set at the end of World War II, in a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society, a powerful and propulsive story of three widows whose lives and fates become intertwined an affecting, shocking, and ultimately redemptive novel from the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Hazards of Good Breeding.
          Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.
          First Marianne rescues six-year-old Martin, the son of her dearest childhood friend, from a Nazi reeducation home. Together, they make their way across the smoldering wreckage of their homeland to Berlin, where Martin s mother, the beautiful and naive Benita, has fallen into the hands of occupying Red Army soldiers. Then she locates Ania, another resister s wife, and her two boys, now refugees languishing in one of the many camps that house the millions displaced by the war.
          As Marianne assembles this makeshift family from the ruins of her husband s resistance movement, she is certain their shared pain and circumstances will hold them together. But she quickly discovers that the black-and-white, highly principled world of her privileged past has become infinitely more complicated, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart. Eventually, all three women must come to terms with the choices that have defined their lives before, during, and after the war each with their own unique share of challenges.
          Written with the devastating emotional power of The Nightingale, Sarah s Key, and The Light Between Oceans, Jessica Shattuck s evocative and utterly enthralling novel offers a fresh perspective on one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Combining piercing social insight and vivid historical atmosphere, The Women in the Castle is a dramatic yet nuanced portrait of war and its repercussions that explores what it means to survive, love, and, ultimately, to forgive in the wake of unimaginable hardship.

PICTURE BOOK - A Year of Borrowed Men by Michelle Barker

Illustrated by Renne Benoit

1st published in Canada in 2015; US publishing in 2016 by PajamaPress (Canada

$18.95

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.78 (23 ratings)

My rating: 4 

Illustrations: "The illustrations are rendered in watercolour and coloured pencil, with a little pastel, on paper."

1^st line/s:  "I was seven when the French prisoners of war arrive at our house.  It was 1944.  Mummy told us the government had sent them because all our men were gone to war, and someone needed to keep the farms running.  She said we were just borrowing the French men.  When the war was over, we would give them back."

My comments:  This WWII picture book for older kids was not told from the "usual" point of view.  How often do we consider what it was like for the average German family during that time?  Based on a true story, Gerta's family take on three French prisoners-of-war to work their large farm while her father is away fighting in the German army.  The Frenchmen must stay in the "pig kitchen" and Greta's mother will be taken to jail if they treat them in any un-prisoner-like way.  However, Greta makes friends with them, finding them kind.   It's a great story to show still another point-of-view during wartime, one not too often told. 

Goodreads: When World War II borrows the men in six-year-old Gerda s family, the German government sends them three new men in return: Gabriel, Fermaine, and Albert, French prisoners of war who must sleep in an outbuilding and work the farm until the war is over. Gerda knows they are supposed to treat the men as enemies, but it doesn t seem fair. Can t they invite them into the warm house for one meal? What harm could it do to be friendly? Writing from her mother s childhood memories of Germany during World War II, Michelle Barker shares the story of one family s daring kindness in a time of widespread anger and suspicion. Renne Benoit s illustrations bring warmth to the era, showing the small ways in which a forbidden friendship bloomed: good food, a much-loved doll, a secret Christmas tree. Family photographs and an Author s Note give further insight into the life of Gerda, the little girl who proved that it isn t so far from Feinde (enemies) to Freunde (friends)."

MOVIE - Bridge of Spies

PG-13 (2:15)

Wide release 10.16-15

ElCon with Sheila

RT Critic: 91   Audience:   89

Cag:  6/Awesome

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Coen Brothers

Dreamworks

Tom Hanks - Mark Rylance was particularly GOOD

My comments:  This was one interesting, fascinating movie.  So much history!

RT Summary:  Tom Hanks stars as the American attorney tasked with negotiating the release of a U-2 spy plane pilot who was shot down over Russia at the height of the Cold War in this historical drama.

MOVIE - A Most Wanted Man

R (2:01)
Limited release 7/25/2014
El Con with Sheila First Day of School 8/7/2014
RT Critic:  90    Audience:  71
cag: 5.5 - Hard to say you "love" such a sad story, but it was amazingly done
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
based on a book by John leCarre

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Defoe, Robin Wright, Grigory Dobrygin

My thoughts:  As I was watching the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman, I kept remembering that this was his last film.  He was brilliant; nonstop smoking, drinking, thinking...caring.  It was the kind of story that unfolds, makes you attend carefully so that you can figure out what's going on.  You begin to see into each of the characters; their motivations, their stories.  It was amazingly done.  I don't know much about directing and exactly what it is that a director does to make this sort of characterization jump out at you, but this amateur movie-watcher is guessing that Mr. Corbijn did a terrific job.

RT Summary:  When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist?

MOVIE - The Book Thief

PG-13 (2:05)

Limited Release 11/8/2013

Viewed 1/27/2014 at Crossroads

RT Critic: 50 Audience: 79

Cag:  4.5 Liked it a lot

Directed by Brian Percival

20th Century Fox

Actors:  Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nelisse

Reviews:  Based on the beloved international bestselling book, The Book Thief tells the story of an extraordinary, spirited young girl sent to live with a foster family in WWII Germany. Intrigued by the only book she brought with her, she begins collecting books as she finds them. With the help of her new parents and a secret guest under the stairs, she learns to read and creates a magical world that inspires them all.

My comments:  This is one of those movies that makes a lasting impression.  The story, about how Hitler and WWII affected the German population, was incredibly powerful and well-told.  The acting (and the choices of those actors) was exquisite.  I have put off reading this book - mainly because it's so dense - but have heard nothing but good reviews and high praise for it.  The actress who plays Lisl, Sophie Nelisse, is mesmerizing - she is absolutely beautiful, innocent-looking, and an incredible actress (especially for one so young).  Geoffrey Rush is so perfect as "Papa," and their relationship in wonderfully believable.  The character of "Mama" and Emily Watson's performance of it - well - I was incredibly impressed.  Two words.  Stunning.  Sad.

MOVIE - The Fifth Estate

R (2:04)

Wide release 10-13-2013

My annual Halloween night movie, 10-31-2013 at Park Place

RT: 37 Critic: Audience:  47

Cag: 3 liked it

Directed by Bill Condon & R. J. Cutler

Walt Disney Pictures

My comments:  I went to this movie so that I would understand exactly what all the ruckus is about on the news.  I guess I've only partially paid attention.  So now I know.Julian Assange, right from the beginning, was an unlikable oddball.  Oddballs are great - but he is one strange guy - at least he's portrayed as one.  The actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, was quite entrancing to watch.  As was the guy who played his devotee, his right hand man, Daniel.  It was a long movie, but totally held my interest.  And it makes me think about where I stand on the issue.

It was my annual Halloween movie-so-that-I-don't-have-to-be-home, and it wasn't playing until 7:05.  I was the only person there until the third preview, when one other person came in.  Strange feeling sitting in that huge theater (almost) all by myself!

Rotten Tomatoes:  Triggering our age of high-stakes secrecy, explosive news leaks and the trafficking of classified information, WikiLeaks forever changed the game. Now, in a dramatic thriller based on real events, "The Fifth Estate" reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century's most fiercely debated organization. The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistleblowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world's most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what are the costs of exposing them?

Benno and the Night of Broken Glass - Meg Wiviott

Illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
Kar-Ben Publishers, 2010
"ages 7-11"
$17.95
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: The legs and feet of people pre-11/10/38 and post-11/10/38

Told from the point-of-view of a neighborhood cat in 1938 Berlin, we learn of life in a small, friendly neighborhood before and after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) which most consider the beginning of the Holocaust in November of 1938. It's a particularly powerful story. Although it's hard to say at what age the concept of the Holocaust should be discussed, this would be an excellent book with which to begin, I think.

The illustrations seem to be a combination of cut paper, stenciled painting, line drawing, and coloring. Pages are covered from edge-to-edge and get darker as the story progresses.

The 2-page Afterword and 2-page Bibliography are just right for my 4th graders, and include a couple of actual photos.

Super book.