Terry Halligan's Favourite Discoveries of 2015
Career-soldier Wilhelm, his pacifist younger brother Friedhelm, and their friends Charlotte, Viktor and Greta say farewell in the summer of 1941 in Berlin, with the promise to meet again after the war. Wilhelm and his brother have been ordered to the eastern front, Charlotte will join them as a nurse in a field hospital there. In Berlin, Greta makes a name for herself as a singer, with the help of a high-ranking party official. Her Jewish boyfriend, Viktor is despatched to a concentration camp in the east. Little do they know how much the unfathomable experiences, deprivations and terrors of the war will change them. It is the experiences of friendship and betrayal, belief and disappointment, illusion and insight, guilt and responsibility that will change their lives forever.
I was very moved by the story which I found brilliantly told and particularly interesting as it is told from a different viewpoint to the usual British or American one that one is so used to.
Braquo is the name of a French police detective series. The name relates to French slang for "heist"and the programme which stretches over several series, details the adventures of Hauts-de-Seine's district police department and in particular four best friends and colleagues who are out to avenge the death of a colleague who committed suicide after being unfairly blamed after a failed operation. It is not for the more sensitive viewer who is easily shocked as it is very brutal in the storyline. In the first episode a police officer rams a biro into the eye of a rape suspect and it continues on the same lines throughout several series. It is said to be France's alternative to The Wire or The Shield.I watched three complete series of this very dramatic programme with great enjoyment and can't wait for the fourth.
In the meantime I've ordered another French detective TV box set, Spiral, which runs to five series so far and I'm looking forward to viewing it in due course.
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