Final season of ‘Babylon Berlin’ will show Hitler’s rise to power
The German series ‘Babylon Berlin’ is preparing to present its fifth and final season, whose plot will reach Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor. The creators are concluding the story, set in the Weimar Republic, amid discussions about pressure on modern democracies, The Guardian reports.
The end of the story
Lead actress Liv Lisa Fries, who plays Charlotte Ritter, said that the moment has come for the series’ characters when they are no longer on the brink of catastrophe but at its epicentre. Throughout the series, her character progresses from secretarial work and sex work in a criminal milieu to becoming the first female detective in the Berlin police.
Volker Bruch plays Gereon Rath, a First World War veteran who experiences the traumas of his era. The fifth season will feature a storyline in Paris, and French neo-chanson performer Zaho de Sagazan will perform the song To Ashes, to Dust on screen.
The series is partly based on the novel cycle by Volker Kutscher. The total running time of ‘Babylon Berlin’ exceeds 50 hours, and the series has been shown in 140 countries.
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Parallels with the present
Bruch acknowledged that political parallels between the events of the series and contemporary Germany are noticeable, but warned against simplistic comparisons. According to him, history does not repeat itself literally but rather has similar features.
The Guardian writes that the far-right Alternative for Germany is leading national polls and describes the party as extremist and anti-constitutional. At the same time, one of the series’ creators, Tom Tykwer, does not believe its success is explained by a direct reflection of the present. In his view, viewers are drawn by the transformative power of 1920s Berlin, where a weak government and a changing society created space for women, gay people and new immigrants.
Another creator of the project, Henk Handloegten, said he considers a clear political position by the authors necessary in the final season. According to him, pressure on democracy in the countries where the series is watched motivated the team to work with this historical era for so long.
