I wasn’t expecting a musical.
This Netflix 16-episode series has just about everything else: political intrigue, spies, sex and drugs, crime, Communists, corruption, a populace caught in desperate poverty, decadence in general, change everywhere. Set in the Weimar Republic around 1929 between World War I and the later takeover by the Nazi party.
SIDEBAR: I happen to be currently reading the gripping book, How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, that, among other accounts, talks about how the fledging Weimar democracy gave way to right-wing influences and Hitler’s rise to power.
Babylon Berlin brings to mind Kurt Weill (think “Mack the Knife” and “Whiskey Bar”) and the ThreePenny Opera. And Marlene Dietrich. But most of all it triggers memories of Werner Fassbinder’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz”.
Probably best known for his films like “Ali: Fear East the Soul” and “The Marriage of Maria Braun”. the late Rainier Werner Fassbinder also created an epic circa-1980 German TV series set in the Alexanderplatz area of the Mitte District of Berlin, the center of nightlife in the Weimar era. I recall how a co-worker friend (who had just spent summers in Berlin and Rome) and I watched the 12 or 15 hours of the series (broadcast on late night Los Angeles’ PBS TV station), often mutually viewing from our separate apartments but connected by telephone to allow immediate comment and note taking. And sometimes, after a viewing, we would discuss the film for hours well into the morning. And she would often call me during and after work with an observation or thought on the subject.
SIDEBAR #2: And I should also mention the Walter Ruttman classic silent documentary of 1927, “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City”, which I blogged about somewhere several years ago. Surely one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. See it here, below:
Returning to Babylon Berlin …
Wonderful, well-drawn characters abound, from the shell-shocked, morphine-addicted Gereon to the feminist and part-time prostitute Lotte, and many others. Startling scenes sometimes make me physically recoil. And the Berlin atmosphere is almost a character unto itself.
Back to music and dance. Seems that almost every episode has a memorable infusion of nightclub and cabaret and beer hall ambiance, with a Bollywood-like mass dance production. But as I watched the end credits roll, I spotted an unexpected name. Bryan Ferry.
SIDEBAR #3: For a little backstory from the 70s, I became fascinated with the music of Brian Eno — continuing to the present — and discovered Eno’s groundbreaking Roxy Music group in which Bryan Ferry was also involved. I became re-engaged with Bryan Ferry about five years ago when he was making old-timey music with his Bryan Ferry Orchestra, notably the terrific album “The Jazz Age”. Ferry also composed music for “The Great Gatsby” film.)
Most of the soundtrack for Babylon Berlin was created or produced by Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer, but I learn that a chance meeting with them and Bryan Ferry led to the latter’s inclusion in the production.
Check out the soundtrack here: https://www.amazon.com/Babylon-Berlin-Music-Original-TV/dp/B076HZ13KN
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6ckvWsrf15hP9vpr7tYHzh
One of the most talked-about performances from the series is Zu Asche zu Staub:
Another of my favorites is Hetzjagd:
And some of the Bryan Ferry pieces:
Bryan Ferry (Dance Away):
Bryan Ferry (Bitter Sweet):
Bryan Ferry (Reason or Rhyme):
And, in wrapping this up … something to watch for (sorry, I couldn’t find a video clip of it yet): Helga and Gereon’s amazing morning wakeup dance scene at the beginning of episode 10.