khsooners Ku'damm 56 is fun to watch. This is a great achievement by the actors and the set designers. The series is a bit loaded too much with historical input, almost like something made by a history teacher (and I say this as a history teacher). Sometimes the characters and situations are too much "an example for this" and an "example for that". It is still really interesting how much the 50s were a completely different age even though you can see cars, television and Rock 'n' Roll. The actresses of the three daughters are very good as are the mother and Heino Ferch's sinister doctor. So while this is no Downton Abbey or Boardwalk Empire in terms of quality, it is well worth watching.

simon-hansen Must see piece to understand German post war history.

dromasca Looking back in historical perspective 1956 was one of these turning point years in history, when things accelerate, when a lot of related and unrelated events with lasting consequences happen. It was the first such year after WWII, the year of the Khrushchev report that started the de-stalinization process in the Soviet Union, the year of the Hungarian anti-communist revolt in Hungary crushed by the same Soviet Union, the year of the Suez war. While less spectacular things happened in occupied Berlin and Germany, 1956 was a typical year in the middle of the decade that saw Germany recovering from an economic point, while part of its population tried to put the past behind them. Forgetting the past would not work, we know it know, and Germany really recovered only after assuming its past morally and historically, but this was a process that last many years. 1956 was somehow in the middle, and the transition to peace and prosperity was felt and lived differently by different categories of people, by those who were to young to remember, by those who wanted the past forgotten, and by those who could not forget - the survivors of the camps, the former prisoners. Add to all these the occupation and division of Germany and of the city of Berlin (not completed at that time, the Berlin wall was built only in 1961) and the clash of cultures initiated by the beat and rock generation which took specific aspects in Germany. It was a complex landscape, which forms the background for the TV mini-series Ku'damm 56 which was screened on the French version of ARTE TV as 'Berlin 56'.The Kurfürstendamm or Ku'damm as Berliners and especially visitors call it, the main commercial street of West Berlin, hosts in the movie the school of dance of Caterina Schöllack (Claudia Michelsen) whose husband did not return from the war, leaving her with the task of raising her three daughters. From many respects she is a symbol of the old Germany, doing her best to survive and adapt, to forget the past and build the future of her daughters the way she believes is best - marrying them well as good German wives into rich families, or at least with solid honorable husbands. This seems to work with the two elder daughters, but not with Monika, the younger one (Sonja Gerhardt) who is different from her sisters from all points of view - a mix of rebel and non-adapted character, with one big passion - dancing. She actually has inherited this skill from her mother, but the tastes are different in a world where jazz and 'decadent' rock'n'roll become in Germany as all over the world a symbol of generations clash. The story describes well the evolution of the four women, their relationships, their rebellion and compromises on the social and political background of a country where ruins were not completely cleaned up and wounds of the recent past were still bleeding for many.Quite different, and actually the opposite of the situation in many scripts of the big or TV screens, while the four women profiles are well built and developed, some of the men characters are reduced to stereotypes. When they are not schematic their evolution is problematic - like the character of Joachim Franck and the troubled relationship to Monika, which starts with a rape to become almost a failed love story. It also seemed to me that the East Berlin scenes lacked a more serious perspective of the differences between the two parts of the Germany. There is a lot of dance and music and the differences in style between the different genres occupy an important role in the series, these could be the subject of another film, or maybe of the continuation of the series, as 1956 is also the point in history when Berlin starts recovering its between-wars shining as a multi-cultural center. As the ending shows Monika walking a Ku'dam that looks like a Dorothy from Oz path to new horizons, the continuation of the series may be in preparation. I am looking forward to it.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Ku'damm 56" is a German television mini-series from roughly 2 weeks ago. It consists of 3 episodes, each of them roughly 90 minutes long, 2 of them a bit longer. The story is set in Berlin in the year 1956 and tells us about a dance teacher and her 3 daughters. The contents include love, (unhappy) relationships, motherhood, fatherhood, homosexuality, careers, cheating and a lot more. After all, they had 270 minutes to fill, 4.5 hours. This series received lots of praise the rating here on IMDb is not bad either. However, it is not a good watch. The only reason i can think of why people are praising this is how bad German television is at this point. Mediocre contents is seen as something outstanding. People are even asking for a sequel here, but I do not need to see that. This reviews was made after the three original episodes.Lets look a bit at the cast. It includes young rising German actors and more experienced ones who have been in the industry for decades. The three young women are played by Sonja Gerhardt, Maria Ehrich and Emilia Schüle. Unfortunately, I cannot say that they are particularly great actresses. Most of the time, they are fairly mediocre. Then again, at least their age gives them the option to become great in the future. I cannot say that about the likes of Heino Ferch, Uwe Ochsenknecht and Claudia Michelsen. These are really more known for being charismatic and having decent recognition value, but all three of them are not very gifted in terms of their range. And last but not least, speaking about the young male actors in here: They are equally forgettable. I am not buying the Sabin Tambrea hype at all, even if it has been going on for a while. I see no talent with him. Oh well, at least he is just supporting here.Finally, lets look at the script. I mentioned the contents earlier already and the action in this series is the perfect example of screen-writers touching material that they simply are not capable of delivering with credibility. The writers' talent is too small compared to their ambitions and you have to say in the actors' favor (even if they weren't good either) that it was almost impossible to make this script work. One really negative example is how there is little to no credible transition between the three episodes. All that connects them is that the characters return, but the stories develop into completely different areas and sometimes it feels as if you were watching movies that had nothing to do with each other. Lets look at Tambrea's character here. In the first 90 minutes, he is a rapist. In the second 90 minutes, he turns into a potential love interest to his rape victim that we are supposed to cheer for? Are you kidding me? Do not be fooled by some critics reviews. Either they were paid for giving this a positive reception or otherwise they have no taste at all. I do not recommend "Ku'damm 56". By the way, Ku'damm or Kurfürstendamm is a street and as Berlin citizen myself, I have to say that the title does not make any sense at all as there are little to no references at all to Berlin. Another disappointment. The film could have played in any other town or even country. Watch something else instead. This is a really weak outcome. Only the costumes and set decoration are kinda okay, but that was no challenge either.