The way the five protagonists kept bumping into each other on the vast expanse of the Eastern front was laughable. Shame the producers and writer didn't have the courage to tell a more realistic story. Haven't they seen Heimat?
shareYou are right. Thats one of the main points I don't like about the series. I think it is a lot to do with the producer. "Heimat" was a long term project by director Edgar Reitz, who developed the plot for years to make the three runs.
"Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter" is produced by a guy named Nico Hofmann who pops out dramas about contemporary german history like nothing, sometimes 2 or 3 the year. They have one thing in common that they all have a certain amount of cheese and drama in it, like here. Still, this is one of his better efforts.
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Some of the events - like Friedhelm meeting Viktor in the woods - were accidental, while the battle territory was still huge at that time. I think, it was too much. And not really needed for the story.
Yup about as likely as Victor and the younger Jerry bloke running into each other in thousands of square kilometres of forest.
That can't of been the only hospital on the Russian front or even just that sector. Also just as charlie was about to be raped by Ivan, who should rock up? The ruskie nurse she betrayed who'd of been executed or deported upon her arrest you'd of thought. Then.....the three remaining survivors all just happen to go to the bar where they had their party on the same day at the same time.
http://www.break.com/video/ugc/funny-skit-from-blackadder-253113
"That can't of been the only hospital on the Russian front or even just that sector. Also just as charlie was about to be raped by Ivan, who should rock up? The ruskie nurse she betrayed who'd of been executed or deported upon her arrest you'd of thought."
I did enjoy watching it and shouting out "what are the chances???"
I had a hard time working out who the Russian female officer was - not being able to recall every minor character's name...Charlie knows her? It can't be the nurse? That she wasn't executed but turned up as an officer liberating the very same hospital she worked it stretched the realms of belief.
The way the 3 remaining characters all showed up in the pub within 5 minutes of each other...I was expecting them to find beer on tap, the piano working and to finish the series with a song and a dance. "It's all ok! Here's to the future!"
I assumed that they'd been in contact and agreed to meet at the bar. They didn't seem surprised to see each other. Why would you assume it was an accidental meeting?
As for the other meetings coincidences do happen all the time and some of that was due to the condensation involved in telling a 4 year story in 4 and a half hours. They're bound to run into each other at some point over 4 years all on the eastern front.
I just thought of another "ludicrous coincidence" moment - Viktor arrives back in Berlin (looking in remarkably good shape for someone who's trekked about 1000km but we'll let that go) and he goes to his parents' apartment which is completely intact with a mother and children living in it completely unscathed and seemingly unaffected by the war. He goes outside to see a panorama of the city IN RUINS. What are the chances??
shareDramatic licence in order to tell a story. You have to see the big picture, if you see what I mean.
And the comparison with Heimat doesn't hold up. Heimat is a completely different vehicle.
The worst one was the Russian nurse Lilja(?) turning up to save Charlie, now as some Russian Major or such. Hilarious! I still enjoyed it though.
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Duty Now For The Future
According to the end of the show it was a true story.
The hospital coincidences aren't as remarkable as one might think, the two soldiers were part of a military unit (eg. a regiment) and the hospital was attached to the same unit.
Don't Care What The Governments Say
They're All Bought And Paid For Anyway
- Sun Green
"According to the end of the show it was a true story."
They just made it look like these people were real; I think this scene borrowed a little from "Private James Ryan" when we see him as an old man in the beginning and end.
There were many things about the characters that were not so realistic. One small detail, for example, is, that it was highly unlikely for two brothers to be in the same platoon. Maybe towards the end of the war, but not in 1941.
They listed when they were born and died at the end. Plus Wilhelm was 1920-.
It's not unlikely for two enlisted brothers to be in the same platoon if they enlisted at the same time, it is kind of unlikely that they would put Friedhelm in his brother's platoon, but maybe they would if Wilhelm was friendly with his superior offices.
Don't Care What The Governments Say
They're All Bought And Paid For Anyway
- Sun Green
They listed when they were born and died at the end. Plus Wilhelm was 1920
It's not unlikely for two enlisted brothers to be in the same platoon if they enlisted at the same time, it is kind of unlikely that they would put Friedhelm in his brother's platoon, but maybe they would if Wilhelm was friendly with his superior offices.
Ludicrous is just ridiculous with an eye gouged out.
Ya Kirk-loving Spocksucker!
It was a microcosm so that was unavoidable. Be grateful that it wasn't Holocaust from the 1970s.
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.