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The Week in Germany: Culture January 19, 2007 Worst Case Scenario: German TV Series Offers Dark Vision of a Revolt of the Elderly
While experts agree that the combination of low birthrates and increasing life expectancies will lead to a dramatic aging of German society over the coming decades, they disagree about the implications of an older population for German society. Now, a German public television movie is offering a new take on Germany's aging society in the form of a documentary movie that is part Soylent Green and part An Inconvenient Truth. Uprising of the Elderly is cast as a documentary set in the year 2030, when every third German is over the age of 60. It paints a dark picture; guerilla commandos made up of pensioners commit violent acts of retribution against swindlers, rumors of plans to deport the elderly linger in the air, and an epidemic of suicides flourishes among those who ought to be enjoying their golden years. The sci-fi docu-drama, produced by public broadcaster ZDF, has earned praise as a taught dystopian thriller, but reactions to the films political warnings have been mixed. The tabloid Bild Zeitung called it the television series of the year, saying that the grim predictions could become reality, while the left-leaning die tageszeitung wishes it focused more on entertainment and less on political messages. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised the film, but dismissed
the notion of a Blade
Runner future as the population ages. Its far more likely, says
the conservative paper, that the changes in German society will be “evolutionary,
not revolutionary.” |
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