Qhis evening, on prime TV at 9.25pm on Rai 2, the first episode of The breath of freedomGerman miniseries set after World War II. A story of love, emancipation and racism that also reflects and speaks to the problems of the present. The remaining two episodes will be broadcast tomorrow and the day after, always at the same time.
The breath of freedomthe plot of the series
We are in Germany, in 1951, in the fictitious town of Kaltenstein. A few years after the end of the war, and at the beginning of the Cold War, the United States sends a handful of soldiers to Germany to create a NATO base. After an old bomb explodes in the Kastner family’s potato field, an American tank destroys their crops. The driver of the tank, an African-American soldier named George Washington (Reomy D. Mphelo), wants to repair the damage and becomes immediately fascinated by the farmer’s daughter, Marie (Elisa Schlott).
However, the girl stays away from the US military, unlike her best friend Erika (Franziska Brandmeier), daughter of Mayor Strumm, enthusiastic about the vitality that Americans bring to the sleepy and conservative town. George and his companions are equally elated as they experience some freedom for the first time in Germany. At a certain point, Marie’s father is arrested and she takes a job at the military base in Colonel Jim McCoy’s house to bring home some money. As the days pass, the girl overcomes her distrust towards the invaders and she begins to fall in love with George. While Erika has fun with the Americans, especially the handsome Sergeant Bill, Colonel McCoy’s right-hand man.
Reomy D. Mphelo and Elisa Schlott in a scene from “The Breath of Freedom”. (Courtesy ZDF)
Emancipation and racism in post-war Germany
Inspired by true events that occurred at the time, The breath of freedom – directed by Israeli director Dror Zahavi – is a three-part miniseries which, in some ways, recalls many melodramas of the 1950s. In particular those of the director Douglas Sirk – not surprisingly a German transplanted to America – where behind apparently sugary and romantic plots, fierce social criticisms were hidden. The mechanism here works a bit in the same way, telling the story through an apparently overused love plot the entrenchment of blind hatred towards black people and racism in society.
Reomy D. Mphelo and Elisa Schlott in a scene from “The Breath of Freedom”. (Courtesy ZDF)
«The Americans are bringing a modern society and the principle of freedom to Germany.» he declared to the German magazine Gala the protagonist Elisa Schlott «But America is not a free society due to the racial separation of the time, many rights apply only to whites. This leads to conflicts even among the soldiers stationed there.” The series in fact faces from a dual perspective on the theme of racism, seeking a bridge with the closest relevance.
While not adding new aspects to the debate on the issue, the series tackles always burning material delicately and without rhetoric. Leaning on solid writing, an almost unprecedented realism for a television product and very naturalistic and never banal acting. As in the case of Elisa Schlott, convincing in the role of the energetic, but at the same time fragile, Marie. She is torn between the desire for an independent life and the obligations she has assumed towards her family and her best friend Erika.
Concerning the love story between Marie and George Washington, the actress has always declared a Gala «They come from completely different realities of life and yet they have one thing in common: they are victims of class society. This is what unites them, even if their relationship is not accepted from the outside.” To then add, again on his character, «The development work on Marie was very exciting. In order to understand it, I wanted to experience firsthand the physical work on a farm. And this made me understand the pragmatism of this young woman who challenges social conventions.”
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