Black Earth Rising (TV Series) In Other News (2018) User Reviews

In Other News

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 18 December 2018]

Hugo Blick as writer, director and producer gives us another morally complex and stylish series. It never is black and white with Hugo.

The first episode of Black Earth Rising starts with International criminal court prosecutor Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter) being harangued for only prosecuting black Africans. It is a very shadowy sequence.

Eve responds by prosecuting another black African. General Simon Nyamoya was the hero of the the Tutsis as he dealt with the Hutus who massacred them during the Rwandan civil war in 1994.

Eve's adopted daughter Kate was rescued as a Tutsi child from the genocide. Kate has the physical scars of the civil war and still mentally traumatized. Kate is aghast that her adopted mother is taking this case on. Nyamoya is a saviour.

Kate is a legal investigator who works in the same chambers as her mother and under international lawyer Michael Ennis played by John Goodman.

The first episode wants to keeps it cards to its chest and introduce the characters. There is a Canadian UN officer who thinks he has seen one of the Hutu butchers of the genocide in a private hospital. It ends messily. At the moment is is Kate who is angry with her mother.

Past Its Prime

[Warin_West-El · 6/10 · 30 April 2024]

This series was recommended to me by my nephew so I took a look.

The episode soundtrack starts off with "You Want It Darker" by Leonard Cohen, a song that I actually own. The first time I heard it was on the series "Billions", season 3, episodes 3 & 4. I was so impressed with how that song fit into the story, I purchased it.

So as this episode began to unfold, there was an underlying sense of familiarity. The opening dialogue was extremely well written. No wasted words. Every sentence was expository and simultaneously drove the story forward. Something that only the best screenwriters achieve.

However, this story has not aged well. The series was produced in 2018 before the most recent revelations concerning the ICJ and the ICC came to light on the world stage, reducing the reputation of those institutions to a shadow of what they used to be.

Consequently, as the story continued to unfold my suspension of disbelief dissolved. It became more and more obvious that what I was watching - was absolute fiction.

Some commentators have criticized the acting but I thought the cast was superb. However, neither the fine acting nor the adept direction could solve the dilemma of a story jarringly out of touch with the prevailing consciousness of the world at large.

At this point in the series it has become crystal clear that we're watching a drawn out morality play. The only compelling drama that remains is: who will the filmmakers say are the good guys and the bad guys when this series concludes?

As is the case in an obvious morality play, the action is somewhat stilted and performative. For example, in this episode we see a self-righteous soldier who winds up causing an innocent person to be killed. MORAL: Don't be self-righteous - got it.

But as that scene was playing out there was a truck full of troops wearing blue helmets. And that ruined the premise for me. Because sentient beings know in real life there are no UN troops protecting anyone. So, once again, I was reminded that I was watching fiction.

No doubt, just a couple of years ago I would have rated this episode much higher. However, due to the subject matter, this series has not aged well. I will continue to watch. But imho, this story is past its prime.