Bella Germania (2019)

Bella Germania – a miniseries in three parts – is a historical drama set in Germany and Italy in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Here is some basic information about this drama which premiered on German television (ZDF) in 2019:

** Director: Gregor Schnitzler
** Writers: Robert Krause and Florian Puchert

** Based on Daniel Speck’s historical novel Bella Germania 

** Soundtrack: German and Italian - no English subtitles!

** Run time: 3 x 90 minutes = 270 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Natalia Belitsky as Julia Becker – a young fashion designer
** Silvia Busuioc as Giulietta Marconi – Julia’s grandmother

** Christoph Letkowski as Alexander Schlewitz (as a young man)

** Joachim Bissmeier as Alexander Schlewitz (as an old man)

[Alexander Schlewitz is Julia’s grandfather]

** Denis Moschitto as Giovanni Marconi (as a young man)

** Alessandro Bressanello as Giovanni Marconi (as an old man)

[Giovanni Marconi is Giulietta’s twin brother]

Daniel Speck is a German author who was born in 1969. His historical novel Bella Germania was first published in 2016. A paperback version appeared in 2017.

As stated above, there are three parts. Here are the headlines:

# 1. L’amore – Die Liebe = Love
# 2. Il destino – Das Schicksal = Destiny or Fate

# 3. Il segreto – Das Geheimnis = The Secret

As stated above, the story is set in two countries: Germany and Italy. The story covers almost six decades (1954-2013). But does not follow a straight chronological line from the beginning to the end; i.e. we do not begin in 1954 and end in 2013. Instead the story flips back and forth between the present (2013) and somewhere in the past. This may sound confusing, but this is not the case.

[At the end of episode three, there is a brief scene where the story jumps forward to the year 2019.]

On the cover of the DVD, the drama is presented with the following words: “Three generations. Two families. One secret.”

Bella Germania is a historical drama, i.e. a fictional story that is placed in a historical context. In this case, the context is the massive immigration from Italy to Germany which began in the 1950s. This is how the two countries Italy and Germany became connected with each other. Numerous Italians immigrated to Germany to find work.

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore I am not going to reveal too much about what happens in this drama. I will only tell you how the story begins:

A young German man (Alexander) meets a young Italian woman (Giulietta) in Milan (Milano) in 1954. Maybe you can guess what happens next.

I will not tell you more than this. If you want to know what happens to Alexander and Giulietta and the people around them, you will have to watch the drama (or read the book) all the way to the end.

What do reviewers say about this drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 72 per cent, which corresponds to 3.6 stars on Amazon.

On the German version of Amazon there are at the moment more than 25 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.4 stars.

If you ask me, both these average ratings are quite appropriate. I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but I cannot go all the way to the top, because it has a flaw. This flaw concerns the language that is spoken in the drama.

At first, the German characters speak German, and the Italian characters speak Italian. When a German character wants to communicate with an Italian character, there is some confusion because of the language. The German character needs to find an Italian character who can speak German and interpret for him.

So far so good. But after a while, things begin to change: Italian characters begin to speak German, not only to a German character, but also among each other. And this is not realistic.

There is a reason for this. The reason is that this drama is made for German television where every program is in German. When German television shows a foreign movie, it is dubbed into German. The original soundtrack is replaced with a German soundtrack. It is a common phenomenon.

The director of Bella Germania is afraid to have too much Italian in his drama, so after a while he seems to say: now I have shown you that these characters are Italian, so from now on they will speak German, so that you do not have to listen to a foreign language. OK?

Some German viewers may be happy about this. But I am not. Because it means that historical accuracy is broken. This is a historical drama. The people behind the scenes have worked hard to create an illusion for us. The illusion that we are in Germany or in Italy in the 1950s or the 1960s. But the language spoken is an important part of the whole package. And on this aspect the director lets us down.

Italian characters should speak Italian when they talk to each other. When they have lived in Germany for a while, I can accept that they are able to speak some German when they have to communicate with a German character. Having Italian characters speak German among each other is just too silly. Unrealistic. Unbelievable.

I have to remove one star because of this flaw. Therefore I think this drama deserves a rating of four stars.

PS. Bella Germania – Die Dokumentation is a documentary film which was shown on German television (ZDF) as a companion to the historical drama. This film offers the historical background for the drama. The topic is the story of the numerous Italians who immigrated to Germany in the 1950s and the 1960s to find work there. Run time: 45 minutes. This film is a good supplement to the historical drama.

*****