Deutschland 83

If you don't, like me, then you have to deal with the subtitles. Which are teeny-tiny and in white, which clashes with most of the shots so much you have to spend two or three seconds trying to figure them out. This is way before they disappear as the flick moves on. If you have to wrestle with the English subtitles like me then I hope your DVD player has easy-to-use pause and zoom functions. Which I am given to understand that the made-in-china players you have to settle for these days don't have. Lucky for me I only use made-in-Japan made-in-the-90s Pioneer DV-270s. See you on that quote auction website unquote.Even with a good DVD player, it is a real pain-in-the-behind constantly pausing and zooming to scrutinize the subtitles. And of good deal of rewinding. Each episode is about 48 minutes, and believe me it took at least twice this long to make it through the first episode. And it was not a relaxed easy ride either. I had to sit up the whole time with remote in hand to follow the show. Since probably many of you out there are instead streaming from the web, and are watching on a big computer monitor, this experience will be even more annoying for you. I would recommend the only way to watch this show comfortably would be on a big tablet computer, allowing you to lie back in your easy chair. But still even then all the pausing and zooming is probably going to gnaw at your nerves...As for the story itself, I saw quite a few problems just in the first episode. Purportedly the East Germans are sneaking a spy into the W. German department dealing with the upcoming deployment of Pershing 2 IRBMs. They accomplish this by shooting a young W. German lieutenant who is reporting for duty as an aide to the W. German general overseeing the Pershing deployment, then substituting their own imposter. About the first half of the first episode deals with the recruitment of this imposter from among the E. German border security service, who possesses unique traits suiting him precisely for his role as spy in this particular mission. Part of this recruiting effort is persuading him of the danger that Pershing missiles will pose to E. Germany.The problem here is that the Pershing IRBM has a range of 1700 km or 1056 miles. They were meant for targets in the western USSR, not E. Germany. Only 276 were built, and fewer than this number were actually deployed. They were too valuable to use on closer targets in E. Germany that could be handled as easily by bombs dropped from aircraft, or by nuclear-armed Lance battlefield missiles.Okay maybe you can say the young lad was gullible enough to believe a story like that, or at that time the E. Germans didn't know any better themselves. But for those of us who know better, it looks like a plot hole that the writers should have known about and found a way out of. It reinforces doubts created by little details like the disposal of the body of the young W. German LT. which is not dealt with. Didn't the W. German security service have any security precautions in place for verifying the identities of key personnel ? None are shown. The imposter is supposedly given two weeks of special spycraft training...seems a little implausible.Still, the show has pretty good cinematography, the dialogue is decently entertaining, the acting okay. Three stars. If you can follow the spoken Deutsch.

I saw this on Netflix a couple of years ago. I loved it. It took me back to 1983 when I was an intern in the German congressional research service in Bonn during the controversy about stationing additional NATO missiles in Germany. On the day of the debate, I arrived at the government district, which was cordoned off with barbed wire. I thought,certainly Bonn has complexes about Berlin, but now it's getting too much! Netflix, rather true to form, did not feature the second and third series (Deutschland 86 and Deutschland 89), so I bought these. So that I would have the complete series, I also ordered Deutschland 83. Thanks Regina, for making this happen!

DEUTSCHLAND 83 is a very well written, authentic look at East and West Germany — and Berlin — during the Cold War.The story mixes historical facts with a fictional(?) spy ring trying to find out if nuclear weapons are going to be used.America is involved as are the communists. The story revolves around young German soldier getting in over his head while having his political alliances — and family loyalties— seriously tested. Hang in there. Despite plenty of dialogue (and subtitles) the tension and payoff are worth an original spy story tv show in German.DEUTSCHLAND 83 has effective 80s soundtrack too.99 Luft Balloons!Hard to give 5 stars because of (reading) 85%(?) subtitles but it’s worth the effort.4.5 stars

After seeing Generation War, an outstanding German miniseries that addressed WWII, I was eager to get D83, hoping for a similar treatment of Cold War Berlin. As an American I wanted to experience a bit of history from a different POV, one that was demonized during my youth. While D83 is not as good as GW, it does take viewers into the minds of E and W Germans during the 80s. Of course, it is Americans who are demonized/parodied here and that is equally frustrating, but there is more good than bad in the series and it is worth some time and thought. My major problem with the show was that it seemed eager to smooth out history, to help viewers gently forget certain intensities and ugly realities. There is certainly tension in the episodes, but it is more sitcom cops and robbers tension than lurking Stasi tension. Their treatment of the Stasi is at stark odds from what I have read about it and heard from survivors. Perhaps it is part of a world wide trend toward revisionist history telling. In Texas they recently put out a textbook that said Africans were brought to the American colonies as workers. Describing slaves as workers is an obvious attempt to change the emotions that go with that historical period. Are Germans now primed to see the Stasi as an overly meddlesome PTA group (Zersetzung-to-Fahrvergnugen)? One of the leads escaped from E Germany during the 80s, so if he's ok with this kind of "history-light" . . . Still, I felt they could have done better.

A fascinating look at the cold war in the 1980s from the viewpoint of those (i.e. Germans both East and West) smack in the middle of things if cold became hot. Although it has very serious and challenging themes - and international military politics is not exactly an easy subject - the exciting but realistic plot, fascinating characters, subtle acting and clever use of contemporary music. It also provided rare insights into how Russia cleverly manipulated naive and gullible intellectuals, academics and students in the West into becoming de facto agents for the Russian military and spy network. Some of the crucial details are amusing yet significant e.g. the reliance of east german security on obtaining IBM computers to rreplace the their Russian duds, and their computer Geeks' need to conceal their enthusiasm, which was tantamount to admitting western technolofy was superior to Russian technology. Highly recommended.

President Reagan has denounced Russia as "the evil empire", the Cold War really hotting up. East Germany knows it is in the direct firing line. Twenty-four year old Martin Rauch is coerced into being its spy in the West (in return for his mother top priority for a kidney transplant). From now on he is Moritz Stamm, aide to Nato's General Edel, his mission to report back on the West's plans for a pre-emptive nuclear strike.A gripping series, not only with a fascinating insight on how attitudes were then but sombre reflections on how they are now. (The creators, whilst writing Episode 6 about a shot down passenger plane, were shocked by news reports of an almost exact counterpart - the same country blamed on both occasions.)Head of a fine cast, Jonas Nay is excellent as Martin/Moritz - convincingly forever thinking on his feet, the danger so often very real indeed. Deaths will result, some of them regretted.Evocatively depicted is a Germany literally divided in two. (Jonas was born in 1990, a year after the wall came down and finds details of how Germany was before then hard very to believe.) Both West and East are vividly portrayed - the "haves" and the "have nots", paranoid suspicion of the other side's motives the only real thing in common. Tension is real, not helped when Intelligence Reports are doctored in order to justify military action.Although a thriller, there is much humour (as when East German experts try to make sense of the West's floppy discs).Perhaps most of all, the series is life-affirming. Here are no villains, but people seriously misguided. Gifted by hindsight, viewers know the depicted growing peace movements in both East and West are destined to create more positive attitudes. Unification so close? Who would have thought!Eight episodes. Over an hour of interesting bonus features (Jonas charismatically articulate in both German and English).Much here to think about. Most chilling of all? As Nuclear War seemed imminent, someone reflects that what God created in six days is about to be destroyed in one.

Brilliantly observed. This is not a piece of Cold War kitsch, but a wiity, bitter-sweet view of funny, faulty humanity within the ideological absurdities of the 1980s. The world is changing in the corridors of the superpowers, changes yet to.play out at the level of ordinary loves. The protagonists play their roles superbly, both East and West appear absurd and heroic in equal measure . Geab a slice of the past. Immerse yourself in the preconceptions and debates of the early eighties.

I'm sure there is a cracking drama to made of life in the divided Germany of the 1980s, but this isn't it. There are a few moments of excitement and tension, but the overall effect is ruined by implausible plotting and silly "action" sequences. More James Bond (or perhaps Johnny English!) than George Smiley, this takes a very simplistic view of the period and the people involved. Very underwhelming!

Very interesting historical series based on relationship between East and West Germany. The actors are all fantastic. You learn a lot from German series like this one; if you enjoyed Babylon Berlin you will also like this series. Higly recommended

Genuinely loved this show, don't know why I didn't notice it first time around. Nice to see a story from the other side of the cold war. Good plot with lots of twists and turns and leads you down a path where you want NATO to fail........ Not sure that's true but I really got engaged with the characters and developed a bond with the stasi.