by armen pandola
The most thrilling aspect of the new streaming TV capability is the incredible foreign TV series that are now available on US television. Just as American TV in the 60s and 70s was shown worldwide, spreading the message about how wonderful life is in the USA, so these new TV series from abroad are showing Americans what life is like 'overseas.'
Borgen is a political TV series about Denmark - and I bet you don't know a lot about Hamlet's birthplace, so let's start there. Denmark is that piece of Europe that juts out above Germany- on the Jutland peninsula (Greenland is part of Denmark but has Home Rule, i.e., they govern themselves for the most part). Along with Norway and Sweden, it is a part of the Nordic welfare states. About 5.8 million people live in this constitutional monarchy (just like England, it has a in-name-only monarch, a Prime Minister and a Parliament). It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world with the average person making more money than the average American. It has some of the highest tax rates in the world, but the Danes live in a country with free healthcare, free tuition for all schools, including college and post-graduate, a social welfare system that works and one of the happiest places in the world to live - when asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how happy they are, most Danes respond 11.
Borgen literally means 'castle' but in Denmark it is the stand-in name for the government, like White House is for the US Executive branch. Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), leader of the Moderate Party, is a politician on the way up. It is no spoiler alert to tell you that she becomes the PM and the series follows both her public and personal lives. Her husband, Phillip Christensen (Mikael Birkkjær), and two children, Laura (Freja Riemann) and Magnus (Emil Poulsen) pay a price for their wife/mother's political career - and the price isn't just being in the limelight. This is a real drama about how a political career can destroy a family, especially if the politician is a woman.
The other lead characters are Kasper Jull (Pilou Asbæk) and Katrine Fønsmark (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) journalists and sometime media consultants for the politicians in the series. Then, there is a world of characters who make up the political, media and societal leaders of Denmark. It is a fascinating tapestry of double-crosses, power grabs, idealistic hopes and realistic decisions.
The ensemble acting is something that you expect to see only in a BBC production - incredible. There are moments so gripping that they are difficult to watch - like a scene in season 2 when Brigitte is forced to come to grips with the fact that her teenage daughter is having serious mental problems, likely caused by Brigitte's absences due to her political career. Many times in this series characters have to make a choice between personal happiness and ambition. In a country where happiness is the norm, it is a real dilemma.
It is a joy to watch a series about the leader of a major democracy who is not enthroned in office, with special salutations (Mr. President) and a mansion in which to live and work. The PM is just Brigitte to all and she goes home every night to a normal looking house. But, her job is slowly corroding her personal life and while she is becoming a better PM, she is becoming less and less the optimistic, loving woman who dreamed of changing Denmark for the better.
There are 3 seasons of 10 episodes each to watch on Netflix - and more to come:
"Ten years ago, Borgen helped redefine the global television landscape, showing that great stories can come from anywhere and be loved everywhere," said Lina Brouneus, director co-production and acquisition at Netflix. "We are immensely proud to partner with DR and the whole creative team to bring this worldwide phenomenon back and to give Borgen's legion of fans the chance to be gripped once again."
The target date for the release of season 4 is 2022 - which gives you more than enough time to get hooked.
Creator: Adam Price
NETFLIX - TV14