Fictitious processing of current events means enormous time pressure for filmmakers. But that can be terrific, as ZDFneo has already proven several times. During the pandemic, the channel developed the format of the instant series: short episodes on current topics that are produced over a period of a few months. Such an instant series was created between July and October: Sky Earth, based on the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Blue for the sky and golden yellow for the corn on Ukrainian fields.
In five fictional stories, filmmakers from Ukraine tell in their own language with subtitles how it feels to be in Germany now. And that’s worth seeing. Not only because it is authentic and timely, but because it offers a much-needed change of perspective.
In everyday life in the ideal world in Germany, the war becomes a background noise
In episode one, Olga’s German roommate finds out that he had imagined living with her differently. “She feels like a foreign body,” he says, which sounds harsh. And Olga? It’s easy to understand that she doesn’t want to be in Germany, where everything seems unreal to her. Also understandable.
Scenes like this speak directly to the German audience, but never become overly critical. Because at some point Olga sits – no longer like a foreign body – at the shared kitchen table and, thanks to stable internet, can reach her boyfriend in Kyiv. It almost seems a little too much like a perfect world here: more fairy lights, more glitter, diversity in the flat share group, stable internet?!
The second episode begins quite differently: the sisters Jaroslava and Nika arrive in Berlin at night. Their German landlord pressures them into signing a contract that they don’t understand. The sealed windows should remain closed. What shoud that? Who is he? One of those who intercept Ukrainian women at the train station and instead of helping them force them into prostitution? One of the two sags trembling against the wall, the tension is palpable. Then the twist: The two leave the apartment in a hurry and find accommodation with nice people. Suddenly everything is fine: playing table tennis, cooking, laughing.
The common thread of the series is the question: how to deal with the “unreal” life in Germany, everyday life in the ideal world, while the war in the home country is omnipresent for the refugees? This question develops like a crescendo, which the Ukrainian Nestor, who has been living in Germany for a long time, finds completely unbearable in episode five. “I think I have to go to the war in Ukraine,” he says, but actually can’t believe it: to flee the inactivity in Germany to the Ukrainian front? Or find yourself in war, like the German photographer Andrea did in the last episode? “I’m finally taking photos of something that matters,” she tells her Ukrainian friend Lisa, who fled to Berlin. Andrea wants to stay in Kyiv, despite bomb attacks and Lisa’s pleas to leave this country, which is not hers. The series leaves viewers perplexed and affected after almost 20 minutes. But the fact that so much remains untold makes it worth seeing.
Sky EarthTuesday, October 25, ZDFneo, 8:15 p.m., and in the ZDF media library.
You can find more series recommendations here.