[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21835886/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21835886/)

Not sure if any of you have seen it, but I’m kind of curious if the series is a realistic portrayal of East Germany at the time.

3 comments

  1. I haven’t seen it but I’m pretty sure it’s not representative of a typical person’s life at all.

    Most people lead very boring and uneventful lives that are not the material for a successful movie.

    Almost by default, such films show the EXTRAORDINARY and not the normal things.

  2. Well, it’s a dramatisation of the real life story of Samuel Meffire, the first East German police officer of African descent (his father was from Cameroon) who, after reunification, was front and centre of an anti-racism campaign until he briefly turned to crime and was sentenced to a prison term for robbery and physical assault.

    Since Meffire is still alive and currently living in Bonn, and has written an autobiography, I would hope that the most important plot points are reasonably true to what really happened, although a lot of details may be changed for the sake of drama — this clearly isn’t a documentary.

    This show likely won’t tell you much about daily life in the GDR, especially since the most dramatic events happened shortly after reunification. Looking at the trailer, my guess is that it’s using Meffire’s story to explore the general theme and origins of the comparatively high levels of xenophobia and right-wing extremism in that part of Germany.

    I would expect the sets, props and costumes to be accurate, since this is all well within living memory.

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