1899 is the new Netflix series released on the platform on November 17th is an idea of Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. the makers of Dark (2017-2020). After the extraordinary success of the German series, Netflix has decided to trust the pen of the two, who once again have not lived up to our expectations and offer us an ambitious project that captures the temporal plots, loops and cyclical returns that Odar is so fond of lying and friezes.
This notion of history repeats itself is now a firm nail for the two Germans, but this time set in a different historical context that focuses on the mysterious disappearance of the Prometheus ship. The creators’ goal was to avoid as much as possible the series resembling Titanic, as the film focuses on a heartbreaking love story, 1899 is instead a mix of genres from mystery to science fiction, interspersed with horror and historical (we stand before a darker version of the Titanicas reported by Odar and Friese themselves).
Illusions, simulations, a thirst for knowledge, curiosity and a lack of communication are just a few of the themes behind the historical scenario of a series that once again raises the level of European series productions.
Kerberos and Prometheus
As the title suggests, it is October 19, 1899 and we are aboard the ship Kerberos bound for New York. The doctor Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham) is one of the passengers on the passing steamer captain Eyk (Andreas Pietschmann, whom Dark fans already know); populate the ship together with their passengers from different walks of life.
More specifically, we are introduced to two French spouses, Clèmence and Lucien, the priest Ramiro with his brother Ángel, Lin Yi and his mother, as well as third graders Tove and Krester and the train driver Olek (to name a few characters, members of the great Occupation). All are shown to us individually and each of them has made mistakes or sins and travels to the new world for different reasons, united by a common denominator: the Hope. But their fates will soon have to cross.
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In fact, the Prometheus, a steamer owned by the same company as the Kerberos, with its 1,423 passengers, has been missing for four months bound for New York. A message is received on the ship with coordinates 44.57 and 59.60: these four numbers are enough to convince Captain Eyk to change course, sure to find the missing steamer and rescue the survivors.
The Prometheus is found, but the ship is completely decommissioned and apart from one child there is no sign of survivorselliot, carrying a strange pyramid. So who locked the kid in or sent the message when the ship was empty? And why, since the Prometheus was found, have the protagonists had hallucinations or suicidal thoughts, have the compasses gone mad and the telegraphs not worked? Also to be “deciphered” is the “battleship” order sent by the same company. Or again, who is the kid and Daniel Solas (Aneurin Barnard) from cabin 1013? Lots of questions and eight episodes to find answers.
The nature of the protagonists
The structure of 1899 is very similar to that of Lost: We build loyalty to the different protagonists of the story that are presented to us episode by episode. At the beginning of each episode we are told the story of each character and the reasons that led him to the ship, as well as the crimes committed before.
Everyone wears one mask This makes them look perfect on the outside but hides their true nature on the inside. Everyone gives in to emotions, love, pain and anger that make them fragile and helpless because feelings cloud their mind.
even there curiosity it is dangerous for the man who comes into the world to avoid or seek. Those who belong to the first category are happy and carefree, those who, on the contrary, belong to the second group will find that pain invades everywhere, driven by the desire for knowledge (a bit like Dante’s Odysseus ready to to walk the pillars of Hercules).
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The Myth of the Cave
1899 confronts us with the problem of looking at reality from the right perspective: people ignore reality and only see what they want because they are limited by the mind, but changing the perspective would be enough to get a full to get a picture of reality. But how do we know if things are as they seem, since our knowledge has limits?
The inspiration is the myth of Plato’s cave: We see shadows and believe they are the real world, but if we turned around we would see someone throwing them, and outside the cave the truth awaits us. This is basically the key to understanding 1899 invites us to “wake up”., to open your eyes to avoid being trapped in a fictional world. Kate Chopin’s book, unsurprisingly titled The Awakening, features as a prop in several shots.
Gloomy and “dark” atmospheres
The 1899 authors show great reliance on symbolism and geometric shapes, and the pyramid with a horizontal line in the middle is an example of this. Showcase this detail in the initials and on the cover triangle it is scattered everywhere and becomes an integral part of the scenography and costumes (from the earrings to the carpet, from the clips to the hatches).
All the technical aspects are meticulously studied to also restore the indispensable aura of mystery for this type of series. The dark colors, the nocturnal sequences, the ticking and singing, the flashbacks and the chasms in the ocean: everything contributes to building tension.
Another aspect to consider is theuncommunicability: All the passengers speak different languages such as English, French, Spanish and when they face each other, they cannot always understand each other. Unfortunately, the difficulties of understanding are less with the Italian dubbing, which does not allow us to grasp this important aspect. there soundtrack is another gem of the series: Jefferson Airplane, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie…
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The End of 1899 Explained (Spoiler Alert)
If Dark was a big mystery, 1899 also demands a lot of attention. The last few episodes present us with a concrete explanation: all the characters are the protagonists of a simulation and behind them is Ciaren, Maura’s brother. The purpose is Study the brain and human behaviorsee the mistakes they make in the face of danger to understand if they are ready to face real problems.
In fact, the Prometheus and the Kerberos aren’t the only ships: everything has already happened dozens of times, and each time the various passengers don’t survive, the story repeats simulation after simulation in a time warp. However, this time we come to the end of the simulation and it turns out that the real world is in the year 2099: everyone is in hibernation and part of Ciaren’s project on the Prometheus spaceship.
The idea of simulation and control by the “creator”, who controls the behavior of the various characters like a large eye, are clear allusions to this 1984 by George Orwell and The Truman Show by Peter Weir, as well as the sequences in which Maura and Eyk “tear down” the walls to get a glimpse of reality. Surely the end of 1899 leaves the viewer satisfied and impatient to see a possible second season.