Tis Me Michelle

I saw Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie in the teaser and I figured, why not? All the Light We Cannot See was originally a novel by Anthony Doerr, which has just recently been turned into a four-episode mini-series on Netflix. I had not heard of this book, so I went into the series completely blind.

The show centers around 2 plotlines that are ultimately connected. On one side we follow Marie, a young blind Parisian girl, and her dad Daniel (Mark Ruffalo) who have to flee as Germany invades during WWII. They go to Saint-Malo where they stay with their great-uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie). On the other side of the war, we find Werner, a young German orphan who is a radio genius. His genius and rebellion get him drafted into the war.

Both Marie-Laurie and Werner grew up listening to a mysterious ‘Professor’ on the radio who spoke of the ‘light’ in the world. For the majority of the series, we listen as Marie broadcasts over the radio to find her father. Somewhere along the way she found herself alone during the war and has managed to survive and not lose hope in finding her family. Werner who was drafted for his ability with radios, stumbles on Marie’s broadcast and is hooked.

I do really enjoy WWII movies and shows. Especially in the state of the world these days. It’s important to remember this war and our history in general that it wasn’t too long ago that these things happened and how terrible it was, that we should know better than to repeat these mistakes. Louis Hofman who plays Warner was in a WWII movie called Land of Mine, which was an incredible film. In that movie as well as his character here we see that, yes Nazis and what they stood for were absolutely terrible, but there were also likely many who were forced to join against their will and were just children themselves. It doesn’t excuse the things they’ve done, and that is why a character like Werner works. The light is buried by all the awful things he has done in the war, but there is still light within him. Once he hears Marie’s broadcast, it’s like the light is calling to him.

While I’m talking about the actors. I love that they hired blind actresses to play Marie. Both actresses (Aria Mia Loberti, Nell Sutton) were great and gave great performances. Special shoutout to young Marie who was just so freaking cute. I saw an interview clip where she talked about Mark Ruffalo and said how she likes him because ‘he seems famous’. Same girl, same. Speaking of, I loved that Mark and Hugh were in something together and overall good performances… But I just didn’t buy either of their accents to pass for ‘French’. Hugh just sounded like his British self and I couldn’t tell you what Mark’s accent was. Unless it was supposed to be a very specific regional accent, but they both clearly had different accents. I did love both of their storylines with Marie though, it was very wholesome and heartwarming.

The series could have, and in my opinion should have, taken its time. Especially considering it was done in television format. I wish I had read the book prior to watching the series because I don’t know if this was the only material they had to work off of. I felt there were plenty of plotlines that could have been developed more. Even just more on what happened to Daniel. I would have loved so much more on Etienne’s backstory. An entire episode dedicated to him, hell they could have done an entire four-episode mini-series for just his whole life back story. Oh, and there is an entire plot point around a fancy stone that supposedly has powers to give eternal life. I’d like to think that this plot worked better in the book because watching it just felt so absurd. Side note – I found it a bit odd, that they continued to tout on the ‘Americans are coming to save us any minute now’ line.

That was a bit of a rant, I know, but honest reviews only here. I did blow through all four episodes in one sitting. Even with what I pointed out above, it was a quick and engaging watch. It had the potential to be great and landed at okay. I still recommend giving it a watch, especially if you like the historical romance/fiction genre. I do like that despite it being a wartime piece, the theme here is light, and the hopefulness does shine through. Maybe one day I’ll read the book.

Stars: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ✨