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Generation War is a German World War II drama split into three parts, where five friends find their lives will be affected in different ways by the war as it takes them away from each other in the summer of 1941, but they vow to return back together six months later, for Christmas.
It was released as “Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter” in its homeland, in March 2013, but the BBC bought it in time to broadcast it during the first year of their endless coverage about the progress of World War I. Which is not this war. Anyhoo, overlooking that…
Wilhelm Winter (Volker Bruch, above) is a Lieutenant, and on the battlefield he is the superior of his younger brother Friedhelm (Tom Schilling), although out in the field they can’t be classed as equals because of the difference in rank. Wilhelm’s also ashamed of his brother, because the former is quite trigger-happy and Friedhelm is more reticent. Wilhelm this that he won’t measure up when the time counts. Whether Friedhelm can prove himself will remain to be seen, but we will see these brothers at loggerheads many a time.
Of the other three, Charlotte (Miriam Stein) is secretly in love with Wilhelm, so she’ll be gutted to be away from him, even though she believes in the Nazi ideology and is looking forward to serving in the Wehrmacht as a nurse in a hospital on the front-line. Her best friend Greta (the stunning Katharina Schüttler, below) plans to sing for the troops all around Europe like a new Marlene Dietrich. She certainly has the talent, so what can go wrong?
And, finally, there’s Greta’s boyfriend Viktor (Ludwig Trepte), and to say he gets the rough end of the stick puts it mildly, since he’s a Jew living in Germany as WW2 breaks out. He wants his parents to leave the country but they’re too beligerent to do so. I don’t want to detail anything about the path he takes, but it’s no less fascinating than all the others and it’s a testament to writer Stefan Kolditz for weaving together their stories and how they all end up on very different paths.
Two other notable inclusions in the sizeable cast, both who are also incredibly beautiful, are Henriette Richter-Röhl as fellow nurse Hildegard, and Alina Levshin, as Polish girl Alina, who Viktor will meet along the way.
Go to page 2 for more thoughts on the programme and the presentation of the disc.
In Generation War, as the Germans invade Russia early on, we witness the horrific executions of Jews. And late on in the campaign, when asked by a more recent recruit how he has survived all this time into the war, Friedhelm replies in a world-weary stance, “A good soldier is usually a coward, occasionally brave.”
The five friends are trapped in a war that they clearly don’t believe when they’re constantly told “The Fuhrer says the war will be over by Christmas”, causing one soldier to reply sarcastically, “Which year?”
Following them setting off in the opening episode, part 2 takes us to 1943 and the battle of Kursk, while in part 3, the war moves on to 1944 with Hitler expecting “the final victory”. Over the course of time, the real horror of war hits home and they all know they will come back home as very changed individuals.
Generation War shows that while many stories have been told about World War II, as well as inspired by that time, there are always compelling stories still to be told. Solid acting, writing and direction will always be required in the telling, and they are here in full force. Overall, however, the four-and-a-half-hour running time does have moments where things drag a little, but stick with it as what unfolds is certainly worth watching in full.
Presented in the original 16:9 ratio and in 1080p high defintion, the picture perfectly captures the grim locations and the full horror of war with pin-sharp detail to do the programme justice.
The sound is in DTS 5.1 and, as you’d expect, your speakers will get the best workout during the battles, while the rest of it is more dialogue and ambience, as well as Greta’s musical numbers. And if you’re not humming “Eine Kleine Heart” by the end, then you won’t have been paying attention.
Sadly, there are no extras on this release, so technically the overall score loses points for that, but the drama alone is worth the price of admission.
The menu features links to the three episodes, which are all on the one disc so it’s certainly quite full, with the theme playing in the background and subtle animation of clouds on the background against the war zone below.
Naturally, there are subtitles in English, Chapters are the usual number on this disc, so you get 12 per episode.
When you put the disc in, there are a few trailers for other TV series available on Arrow video, but this should be part of the extras menu, not thrown before the main menu.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 8 0 |
| OVERALL | 6.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 3 * 90 minutes
Year: 2013
Released: May 12th 2014
Cat no: FCD879
Chapters: 12 per episode
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS 5.1
Languages: German, Russian
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 16:9
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Philipp Kadelbach
Producers: Benjamin Benedict, Nico Hofmann and Jürgen Schuster
Series writing credits: Stefan Kolditz
Music: Fabian Römer
Cast:
Wilhelm Winter: Volker Bruch
Friedhelm Winter: Tom Schilling
Greta: Katharina Schüttler
Charlotte: Miriam Stein
Viktor Goldstein: Ludwig Trepte
Dorn: Mark Waschke
Hildegard: Henriette Richter-Röhl
Dr. Jahn: Götz Schubert
Oberschwester: Hildegard Schroedter
Lilja: Christiane Paul
Hiemer: Sylvester Groth
Alina: Alina Levshin
Jerzy: Lucas Gregorowicz
Hauptmann Feigl: Maxim Mehmet
Stanislawski: Adam Markiewicz
Friedhelms Mutter: Johanna Gastdorf
Vater Winter: Peter Kremer
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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