Summary
All the Light We Cannot See is a promising adaptation scuppered by a few major pacing issues and an emotional tone that teeters towards the sentimental.
One of Netflix’s most prolific collaborators, Shawn Levy (Stranger Things and The Adam Project) teams up with acclaimed film and TV writer Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) for the long-awaited Netflix adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See. The first season, which consists of only four episodes, closely follows the award-winning war novel with varied success.
All the Light We Cannot See Season 1 review and plot summary
Set in the final days of World War II, All the Light We Cannot See focuses on blind French girl Marie-Laure LeBlanc (newbie Aria Mia Loberti), who illegally broadcasts every night from her uncle’s attic in war-torn Saint-Malo, France. She hopes to give listeners a moment of escapism, reading them Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in installments.
One of Marie’s number-one fans happens to be the German soldier, Werner Pfennig (played by Dark star Louis Hofmann). He’s aptly based in the city of Saint-Malo too, an expert radio operator who has become disenchanted by the horrors he has witnessed during the war. The broadcasts are the only thing that gives him hope in this horrid time.
Werner is tasked with finding Marie, who the Nazis believe is sending out encrypted messages via her broadcasts. These messages are for the Resistance, helping them to bring an end to the war. Werner’s mission is to track Marie down using his technical expertise and then kill her. Of course, Werner doesn’t want to destroy the one thing that he loves in this cruel world.
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He isn’t the only one after Marie though. The villainous Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger doing his best Christoph Waltz impression) is desperate to find the blind girl for his own selfish reasons. Reinhold will stop at nothing to seek out Marie’s location, even if it means placing himself in the heart of the war, in the closed-off city of Saint-Malo, which is being bombed nightly.
Will Marie be able to evade the ruthless Nazis and survive the endless bombing from the Americans long enough to be reunited with her father Daniel (Mark Ruffalo with a distracting accent) and Uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie)?
Is All the Light We Cannot See worth watching on Netflix?
All the Light We Cannot See starts off strong and will keep viewers engaged from the beginning until the very end, but this four-part miniseries still feels as though it has squandered its overall potential. With this impressive cast of Hollywood stars and the depth of the source material, this could have been so much more.
In the end, though, this is another example of a promising adaptation that has been stretched and bloated by needless flashback sequences to justify its series length and credentials. This would have worked so much better as a stand-alone film. But instead, we are given far too much backstory, which leads to an overstuffed middle section.
The series isn’t a total misfire though. The drama opens with a heartbreaking, tense premiere and closes with an action-packed finale. Over the course of its four-hour run, there’s plenty of spectacle and many tense, emotive scenes to keep audiences invested. Levy and Knight make the most of the WWII setting and the heartbreaking central themes, although this sentimental tone may be a little too much for some viewers.
It’s also worth mentioning the talents of our leading stars. Newcomer Aria Mia Loberti and Dark star Louis Hofmann are stunning throughout, bringing heart and humanity to this brutal war drama. They give purpose to the narrative and help drive the story forward. The series should be applauded for their performances and the brilliant visuals alone.
What did you think of All the Light We Cannot See Season 1? Comment below.
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