In 1962, the book "The Man in the High Castle" was published in the genre of alternative history of the authorship of American writer Philip Dick. In 1963, the novel won the Hugo Award as the best book of the year. This was the first book from the genre of alternative history, which received such a high award.
If you suddenly did not encounter the works of Philip Dick, then I will give examples of several films made according to his stories. This is "Blade Runner" (1982, Ridley Scott), "Total Recall" (1990, Paul Verhoeven), "Minority Report" (2002, Steven Spielberg).
The first season of TV series "The Man in the High Castle" produced by Amazon Studios in 2015. The pilot was received very positively reviews and the show was given a green light. To date, 2 seasons of 10 series have been filmed, the premiere of the third will take place at the end of 2017.
One of the executive directors is Ridley Scott.
PLOT
Germany with the Allies won the Second World War. The US was divided between Japan and Germany. The eastern part of the United States is part of the Great Nazi Reich, the Pacific coast has become the Japanese Pacific States. Between them there is a buffer zone - in the Rocky Mountains. Anarchy ruled there, though controlled.
The action begins in 1962 in the territory of the Japanese Pacific States. The main character without her will was dragged into the Resistance. She will have to meet with the German agent under cover and decide insiders and outsiders or who desires her death.
RATINGS
IMDb 8.1 / 10
Rotten Tomatoes 79%
RESUME
I like interesting stories. For me, this is even more important than acting, picture and visual effects. Get a story, over which you can think, say to yourself "Wow! It's great" - this is the most important thing. And the "The Man in the High Castle" gave me such a story.
The title track resembles a lullaby, sets us on a gloomy narrative. Knowing what kind of story awaits us, evaluate the lyrics:
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Small and white, clean and bright
Blossom of snow can you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever
The first season introduces us to life in the territory of the Japanese occupation, and the second - to the Nazi. A couple of episodes will affect the buffer zone.
The narrative is very viscous and gloomy. Sometimes you even had to increase the brightness on the screen, otherwise nothing was visible. The great advantage of the series is the action carried over to the 60's. Beautiful outfits, excellent cars, the general atmosphere. We see an exemplary German family, such ... as from the cover of the magazine, only they have a portrait of Hitler on the wall, on the lawn there is a flagstaff with a flying flag with a swastika, the children are in a detachment of young Nazis, and the father wears a uniform the Waffen-SS.
Image source
It is interesting that the US territory was chosen for the series, although the main military actions were conducted in Europe. The fate of Africa, the USSR and European countries was briefly mentioned in the dialogues. However, the US has never been in the occupation and it is interesting to see how they perceive the new conditions of their life for freedom-loving Americans.
Actors play well. I want to note the two characters I loved, although they are supporting actors.
Rufus Sewell as John Smith, SS Obergruppenfuhrer.
He is way ahead of other characters, including the main characters. What an acting! In his character, there is power, authority. Each of his decisions is thought out, when the main characters often lack logic. Rufus Sewell is so charismatic that I would love to watch the third season, dedicated entirely to his character.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Trade Minister, Nobusuke Tagomi. I hope everyone remember Mortal Kombat).
On Nobusuke's face there's no any emotions. A real Japanese man keeps everything to himself and is ready to give his life for the Emperor. The wisdom and philosophy of the Eastern peoples are concentrated in this person. He is unhurried, stingy in words and so valuable is his every appearance on the screen.
The TV series is gorgeous with its atmosphere and a sense of oppression, but it's bad for the motivation and actions of the characters - sometimes they are illogical to the horror. In the second season, the main character begins to get a little annoyed, but the episodes are quite good because there are enough heroes and all of them try to reveal. As I noted above, it so happened that the supporting heroes were stronger than the main characters.
In the rest it is a TV show about love of neighbour and self-sacrifice, about cruelty and nobility. Perhaps the story has illogical moments, but who knows how we would act in the heroes place in these circumstances. There are no classic heroes, too positive and villains, negative so much that you hate them. Both sides of each character are shown - both good and bad. And it's up to us to decide who to sympathize with.