Transatlantic

This is a fascinating story based on real people and real events circa Marseille, France in 1940.

I always thought it was only Oscar Schindler, the German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party, who saved 1,200 Jews from the German concentration camps.

But American journalist Varian Fry and his colleagues succeeded in facilitating the escape of Europe's virtual brain trust, including famous Jewish artists, from the advancing Wehrmacht in 1940-October 1941.

The limited series narrates remarkably how Fry, Mary Jayne Gold, Albert Hirschmann, Lisa Fittko and Hiram Bigham accomplished a difficult task relying mainly on the financial heft of heiress Ms. Gold.

What is particularly interesting and entertaining is the fact that the famous refugees are given parts to play. Personalities like German surrealist painter Max Ernst, Jewish economist Albert Hirschmann, Jewish painter Marc Chagall, Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, Russian anti-Stalinist Victor Serge, political scientist Hannah Arendt (who's considered one of the most influential political theorists in the 20th century and who was married to Benjamin's cousin Gunther Anders), and German satirist and writer Walter Mehring. Throw American art collector par excellence Peggy Guggenheim into the mix and you have a totally whimsical brew. (By the way, Peggy married Ernst later.)

Such an assemblage of individuals, at wartime, is awesome.

This makes the movie the refugees' story. There are unforgettable scenes involving the 2 Walters (Benjamin and Mehring) but it would be tantamount to spoilers.

Storytelling is straightforward but engaging without a hint of the past which forces the inquisitive to dig deeper and consult Google for additional information. Somehow, this enriches the viewing experience. But action is consistent and there are tense moments to be sure. It ebbs and flows but the viewer isn't distracted.

As mentioned in the beginning, this is a story based on real people and events. But creators Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler took the liberty of adding plot elements that don't have basis in fact but intended to embellish the story arc. It's up to the viewer to find out what these are in the spirit of fun

Gillian Jacobs, Cory Michael Smith, Lucas Englander and Cory Stoll nail their parts.

Overall, it's a watchable, informative film with great entertainment value.

I really wanted to like this limited series. The historical characters-artists, writer-thinkers, philosophers-are familiar and deserve far better. A telling indicator of the empty-calories production: Despite the compelling, emotional historical narrative, the characters are too often one-dimensional. One of the most pivotal and horrific events in modern history and all we get is superficial treatment of those events and characters who engage only minimally with those events.

If I didn't know anything about this historical period and relied on this series to learn about it, I'd think these characters, targeted by Nazis and fascists, did little more than party, drink, smoke, and engage in lots of self-promotion driven by a self-absorbed lack of awareness about the monumental events unfolding around them. There are few, if any, genuinely sympathetic characters in what should have been a production filled with such. I'll stick with Casablanca's fictional take. But the series' photography is *gorgeous* and reflects the artistry that defines some of the principal characters' work.

The true story is well known and awe inspiring. A true larger than life story in WWII occupied France when the South was still a "free" zone. All the refugees were in Nice, Cannes, Marseille awaiting to leave the territory. Unfortunately, the series is torn between retelling the true events and highly romanticising them with the addition of too many love interests as well as too many politically correct subplots raising concerns that were not relevant at the time especially in time of war. Those tend to slow and hinder the proper storytelling, depriving it of fluidity in addition to some completely false resistance storylines. It could have been great.

I am so happy that they actually used foreign actors with accents from the respective countries. Usually the actors all speak with a British accent when representing other countries. But, this series is absolutely refreshing since it really represents Europe through having actors from a multitude of countries. I liked learning about this part of WWII history and will research it more. It has great character development. It's not all one thing, but all parts of the human condition. It's a great glimpse into another part of WWII history that I knew nothing about. I'll definitely be researching this more.

The Netflix series is based on real life events in Marseilles, France during the early days of WW II. Dark times, indeed, from an historical view. But, somehow, "Transatlantic" comes across more like a collection of ingénues and eccentrics on a madcap adventure, rather than as a literal life and death struggle against fascism. The tone of this series is set by a soundtrack that hit me every which way but right; the overall effect was like watching a strange, inappropriate homage to a Woody Allen period piece comedy. Kudos to the cast, though, which manages at times to rise above it all with some excellent performances; and the on-location cinematography adds authenticity to the historical weight of the storyline. "Transatlantic" may be the only series you should watch with the audio muted and the captions on, because what happened is worth knowing so that it is not forgotten, or repeated.