TV

Apocalypse now: While the plague is hitting the world, the plagues are hitting television

Three series about a deadly plague that is spreading around the world have hit the screen one after another.

The successful "Sloborn" is described as a series that foresaw the corona, the stunning "Anna" depicts a horrific reality where the children are the only ones left, while "Eleven Station" makes it difficult for viewers, but only to allow light to burst from the cracks

Ido Yeshayahu

16/01/2022

Sunday, 16 January 2022, 11:17

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Trailer for the series "Eleven Station" (HBO Max)

A plague-stricken world has always been a very present element in Hollywood stories, whether a description of the spread or of the post-apocalyptic life that followed. Even after deducting zombie creations we are already well aware of the stories about a mysterious virus that is starting to dilute the world population. Sometimes the event is presented to us as it takes place, however most of the time we are exposed to the rest afterwards, trying to survive in new conditions, usually much poorer and more dangerous.

In the last decade alone, television has provided several such series. The exemplary British "Utopia", the comedy "The Last Man in the World", the new adaptation of "12 Monkeys", as well as "The Virus", "The Rain", "The Last Ship", "Colony" and more and more. The last two years alone, while a real plague is taking over the globe, have provided us with, among others, "The Tribes", "The Position", the unnecessary American innovation to "Utopia", "Y: The Last Man" and "Sweet Toth" - all of course more produced Before anyone knew what Cubid-19 was. So maybe it's not very strange that in the space of a few months three more series came from the same school. And indeed what is happening in them is much more extreme in relation to our reality, but it is impossible not to compare them with the here and now, nor between the one and the other.

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Mojo of Prophecy of Wrath.

"Sloborn" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

Apocalypse in slow motion

These three series were also produced - or at least began production - even before the Corona. The German-Danish "Sløborn" - which conceived, wrote, filmed and also directed half of its episodes Christian Albert ("The Dogs of Berlin") - and its final episode of the season will be broadcast the next day (Tuesday) on Cellcom Tiwi, promoted using the slogan "The series that predicted the plague" , And it's not far from the truth. In her homeland the series arrived in July 2020 (and the second season aired a week ago), after the corona and closures were already a familiar reality, but the series previously filmed shows one after another the elements of reality we have come to know so well, even if it soon takes the situation to more extreme places. As the opening scene of the series suggests. Until that happens, it is easy to spot the new releases on a new and mysterious disease that is occurring far away, health experts, pervasive understanding, demand for social distance, masking, isolation, counter-reactions of sections of the population, closures and so on.

The plot of "Sloborn" takes place in the town on a fictional and small island named after the series and located on the northern island of Germany, near the border with Denmark.

A ship with two bodies on board is swept to its shores, and when boys from the settlement come in contact with them, it soon becomes clear that they have contracted a disease called pigeon flu, from which the chances of recovery are slim and highly contagious.

Although this particular plague is spreading all over the world, but as a small and communal place where everyone knows everyone and comes in contact with everyone, in Sloborn the chances of widespread and deadly spread are great.

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All the familiar sights.

"Sloborn" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

Of course, the series takes care of introducing us to the characters beforehand, so that when the disease is extracellular on their lives it will motivate us somewhat. There is 15-year-old Evelyn, an older sister and daughter of parents with marital difficulties who hides a huge secret from them; The boy he is in love with, Pieta, and the boy he himself regularly abuses with his friends - Herman. There's Magnus, a rehabilitated criminal who returns to the island where he grew up with a group of criminal boys who get a second chance at a special project he has set up. And the most grueling plot of the series: Nikolai Wagner, a famous writer who comes to the island and deals with drug addiction, a writing barrier and has generally created devastation. All the clichés in one character, played without any inspiration by Alexander Shir ("Blood Red Sky").

Although his moments on screen sway unbearably, "Sloburn" as a whole is effective and intriguing.

The other parts of it are quite successful - in particular the story of the prisoners, which becomes a very forced allegory for immigrants accused of the troubles of the residents, and still interesting - and the characters are kind enough to be sorry to see them suffer.

On top of that, the fact that in retrospect the series has become a kind of extreme but prophetic allegory for our existential state in the last two years, infuses it with a mojo of prophecy of rage, as well as a description that illustrates how it could have been much worse.

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Effective and intriguing.

"Sloborn" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

Games for children

Speaking much worse - "Anna". Each episode in the Italian mini-series, the sixth and final episode of which aired on Cellcom TV last Thursday, opens with the caption that the corona plague began to spread when production was already half a year during filming. The series aired in her homeland - which, as I recall, suffered from bitterness and early coronation - in April 2021, and is based on the book of the same name by Niccolò Amniti, who is also responsible for the television adaptation.

On screen it is not very noticeable, at least not in the first two thirds of the series, but in the literary source from 2015 there is a fundamental resemblance between "Sloborn" and "Anna": in both cases the plot takes place on an island.

In the case of "Anna" it is Sicily, and the reality she describes occurs mostly several years after a devastating plague called "red fever" (yes, everyone always gambles on the flu) consumed all adults.

The kids are left to deal with themselves - a sub-genre familiar in its own right in the post-epidemic life genre.

Not only that, but once these children reach adolescence, the disease breaks out in them as well and their days are limited.

As prompted by such post-apocalyptic descriptions, "Anna" is a survival story in a hostile world where man to man are often wolves.

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Stunning design.

"Anna" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

The plot follows a 13-year-old girl named after the series. Her parents had died four years earlier and left her with Astor, a younger brother who was then four years old. Sober about the future, the mother left them a notebook full of advice and instructions for survival, and the two now live alone in their secluded and pastoral home. Anna occasionally goes out to make arrangements and leaves Astor alone at home, with a warning that he will not cross the fence area because beyond it it is impossible to breathe. This is of course a lie designed to prevent the child from being exposed to outside dangers, and these are big and gut-wrenching revolutions.

In the absence of minimal adult supervision, let alone mental relief, children become violent and frightening monsters.

These are not just little people who have to overcome quickly to deal with a cruel universe, but those who apply their childishness to the new existence they have fallen into.

Their small world is one big playground, laden with garbage that no one bothers to clean, ruthless and sometimes surreal.

The older ones in the children, called the "whites", enslave the little ones, called the "blue children", and at the top of them all stands Angelica, a girl whose name is a bitter laugh of fate.

It turns its subordinates into a gang devoid of a perception of reality, which transports the rest of the population - including the protagonists of the series - from hell.

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One large playground.

"Anna" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

Even though it's children, it's often difficult to accept some of the main characters' particularly stupid choices, and other times the plot is smeared even though the entire series has six episodes (the fifth suffers from both of these problems together). But the big challenge in watching "Anna" is that it is uncompromising. She really is not for everyone. Distrust of humanity is a prominent feature in works like this, and especially when it comes to children. After all, the heart of man has created evil from his youth, no? "Anna" is a kind of thousand-times-more "fly-owner" - in both cases evil and despair take the place of a functioning and normal society, and buy them a formidable grip on the community at the heart of the story.

In his book "The Human Race: A History of Hope", the Dutch historian Rutcher Brahman traces a real case of a group of boys who were trapped on a lonely island, and had to live on their own for several years until they survived.

In contrast to the ominous scenarios of the fictitious works, Brahman describes how in the real world community and friendships were formed between the boys that helped them survive together.

Knowing that such an incident has taken place casts a shadow over works of the "Anna" type, which most of the time prioritize evil over hope.

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A thousand times more "fly owner".

"Anna" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

And yet - or perhaps precisely because of it - "Anna" is moving to tears in the suffocating sense of the word. After each episode the sensations she instills linger in the air, in her stomach and head like the stench of fire, and during the viewing it is difficult to take her eyes off her. As the red fever and the white and blue children suggest, the color series is offensive. The locations are stunning, the design is spectacular, the photography is beautiful and the play of all the children is amazing. The dissonance between their great innocence and their horrific actions is as mesmerizing as it is debilitating, and it itself is suspenseful, capricious and unpredictable as if it has entered the immature minds of its protagonists.

And yes, despite everything, the series also has a softness that makes it easier to breathe.

Moments that illustrate Tom's childhood insistence even in the face of what is happening around him.

Magical memories from the past, such as in Anna's earlier childhood, when her mother thaws her anger by playing her favorite song while traveling together - a captivating scene that resonates beautifully even in a later episode.

The sweet connection and attachment between Anna and Astor, for all the hardships.

And finally also a hope that sprouts.

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Magical memories from the past.

"Anna" (Photo: Cellcom TV)

I found it again

Like "Anna", the "Eleven Station" mini-series focuses mainly on a civilization that crumbles after a deadly plague - in its case 20 years after its outbreak - and in between goes back in time to describe the course of events. Like her she is based on a novel - her great book of the same name by Emily St. John Mendel; And like her she is colorful, beautiful looking and does not look like anything else on TV. There are other similarities that the two series share, in their head, in a strange coincidence, a very specific and unusual image - one of the characters looks at a man wearing a space helmet as someone who accompanies and guards it. The big difference between the two series is that this time it is a kind-hearted and hopeful work.

In the case of "Eleven Station," both the book and the series are a jigsaw puzzle that joins as the piece progresses.

The difference is in the parts sizes.

In the book they are larger and more uniform, and in the series (whose last episode aired on Thursday on HBO Max, and it is not yet known when it will arrive in Israel), throughout quite a few episodes, they are mostly fragile and fragile.

The series completely changes a lot of plot details from the literary source, and most of these decisions - on screen only - are smart and obvious.

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A very specific and unusual image.

"Anna" (Photo: screenshot, Cellcom TV)

A strange coincidence.

"Eleven Station" (Photo: Screenshot, HBO Max)

"Station Eleven" was adapted for television by Patrick Summerville, who already has some original and unique series under his belt.

He created the great mini-series "Crazy" and "Chip of Love," which just recently appeared here in the 2020 series parade. As a producer and writer.

Both because in it, too, humanity faced a terrible tragedy that killed many, and in the very emotional way in which it unfolded the story.

The story in the new series follows a number of characters whose lives were linked before the plague, during its outbreak and after the names it left behind.

Centered on Kirsten, who was a girl-actress when a plague broke out, she is also an actress in her adulthood (Mackenzie Davis, "Burned Code," "Black Mirror") as part of "The Wandering Symphony," a bunch of actors and musicians roaming community around Lake Michigan and putting on Shakespeare plays.

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The memories guide the characters like puppets.

Mackenzie Davis, "Eleven Station" (Photo: HBO Max)

"Eleven Station" is named after a rare graphic novel that rolls into the hands of some of the characters, including Kirsten, leaving a deep imprint on them.

In a simple yet captivating allegory, the novel tells the story of a human being, known as Dr. Eleven, who left the ruined planet and tries to return to it. "I remember damage.

And escape, "says his character in a sentence that accompanies the mini-series throughout." Then drifting into a stranger's galaxy for a long time.

But I'm protected now.

I found it again.

My Home".

Unlike far too many series that bounce back in time for no reason or need, "Station Eleven" is the ultimate example of how to do it right.

The series skips between the past and the present in a way that binds them as one piece, clarifying how memory, civilization and trauma constantly reside among those who preceded the plague, emphasizing the exposed emotions.

In the second episode, for example, Kirsten appears on stage and recalls with trembling and tears at events that took place twenty years earlier, exposing us to them as they pulsate in her now, guiding her like a puppet.

In the eighth chapter, memories from the past that float and come to the mind of another character, and therefore in front of us on the screen, change her mind as if they happened now.

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Beautiful, lyrical and attractive enigma.

"Eleven Station" (Photo: HBO Max)

Memory is one of the significant things about "Eleven Station," and so is its revival. As might be expected to happen in a world forced to reconcile itself in the face of such an immense tragedy, "The Prophet" arose, a charismatic young man who attracted a crowd of brainwashed children like the flutist from Hamlin. They are called "The Submarine", after children without parents from the graphic novel (another resemblance to "Anna") and the Prophet instills in them the Torah that "there is none before. Only what is to come" - is also a mantra from the same source. The tug-of-war between these schools is the tension underlying "Eleven Station."

In contrast to the book, the television adaptation places the weight of this mythology on the entire work. On the one hand, this choice gives the series a beautiful, lyrical and attractive enigma. On the other hand, for many episodes it impairs its coherence, placing a barrier of ambiguity and over-complexity between it and the viewers. It often seems that "Eleven Station" prefers an atmosphere over directness,Takes place in the contradiction between the attraction and the block, and no doubt patience is required to navigate between them.

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Wraps the past and present as one piece.

Caitlin Fitzgerald, Gal Garcia Bernal, "Station Eleven" (Photo: HBO Max)

Yet it is so worth it.

The fragments through which "Eleven Station" makes itself appear, although they present a partial and enigmatic picture, they also act subconsciously like an act of witchcraft.

And so suddenly, even in the most dull episodes, comes a fierce scene that crushes the chest.

The atmosphere that underlies it is nevertheless known to be that of the earth, of the house, and this is pointed out by the series time and time again.

As required by a mosaic craft, as it progresses and the picture begins to clear - even if not all of its parts are equally successful - it is suddenly apparent how beautiful and graceful she is.

Suddenly it is clear how complete she is.

How every detail in it, even a tiny and early-marginal joint, can casually become a plot line without even being connected between things.

There are so many series on post-epidemic life.

The vast majority - and crucial is the key word here - describe a grim and harsh reality.

But this is what "Eleven Station" is so amazing to do: like the memories that always nestle and burst in characters, like the old, redeeming culture that the traveling symphony insists on providing to the devastated humanity and heroes of the series - so the rays of light always emanate through the cracks.

In a broken world filled with broken people, "Station Eleven" neutralizes explosives like a sapper, moving to tears in the pure and purifying sense of the word, bringing its protagonists home.

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• Eleven station

• Anna - Series

• Sloborn