Deutschland 83

Anyone who enjoys the hit FX series The Americans should appreciate this miniseries about a Communist spy in the NATO command circle during the Reagan years. The first German-language series to be broadcast on an American network (SundanceTV), Deutschland 83 centers on Martin (Jonas Nay), a naïve 24-year-old East German border guard who is forced by his Stasi agent aunt to impersonate the aide to a West German general (Ulrich Noethen). Martin's job is to collect data on a NATO military exercise suspected by the East Germans of having been devised to mask an actual first strike on the Soviet Union. Martin will ultimately have to go to great lengths to prevent his paranoid bosses from starting a thermonuclear war. The series makes clever use of archival news footage to bolster the story's credibility, although it still features some implausible narrative threads—at one point Martin takes time off from his duties to rush home in order to donate a kidney for his ailing mother—and soap operatic subplots (Martin's East German sweetheart has an affair with his pal even as Martin is compelled to engage in several romantic flings as part of his mission). The general's dysfunctional family also provides grist for the mill: his gay son is involved in the anti-war movement along with Martin's local handler, and his daughter is a hippie-style wannabe pop singer (which allows for a soundtrack full of period tunes). But even though Deutschland 83 often strains credulity, its mixture of tense action and melodrama is great fun. Extras include cast and crew interviews, and a Q&A with the filmmakers and stars at the Goethe-Institut in New York. Recommended. (F. Swietek)