Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood

I really liked Oktoberfest. Dark, yes but also with a little humour in it. I also enjoyed the cinematography. The way of filming, the colours, the sound... But of course you have you watch it in German with subtitles in your own language.👍

This is not a billion $ Hollywood production. But they were able to create an 1900 atmosphere with detail and a story that keeps you enthusiastic. I expect a season 2 to come.

...and this is the most luscious, condensed, fun to watch account of how it could have been when the former "quaint and grubby" Wiesn turned into gigantonomy, something utterly reflective of an industrial age reaching an early fruition point.

The depiction of typical Bavarian-style exclusionism on the one hand, sociability on the other is spot on. An endeeringly raw, crude, diverse look at the changing-of-the-guard unscrupulousness that marked the turn of the last century. While some performances seem strangely (purposefully?) over- or underacted, some story beats a bit oversimplified, overall level of production, direction and acting is spectacular, especially for a German production.

Grumpy critiques in the vain of "well, that's not how it was" would be mistaking verissimilitude for truth. This is fiction at its best, grandiose, pompous, an exuberant bouquet of fascinating characters.

The show will move to netflix in a few months where predicting an international mega success would be no witchcraft.

Amazing production and acting. But as most German shows, you never feel attached to any of the characters. It's missing the "I care" factor. Why should I care about any of them? They are not appealing and so the show gets boring and pointless.

...but it's pretty entertaining and an easy watch in just six episodes. The producers take some bare-bones history of the 1900 Munich Oktoberfest and gussy it up with Peaky Blinders-style violence, sex and gloriously squalid settings (as others note, production values are top notch). The storyrunners do a good job of closing off most of the plot lines by the final chapter but things end on a somewhat ambivalent note - keeping the door wide open for season 2. And please, watch it in German with subtitles - and maybe have a lager while you do.