User Reviews

"Silas" is a West german mini-series from 1981 that consists of six episodes and each of these is slightly over 45 minutes long, so you can watch the entire thing in under four hours. The entire thing is novel-based, but I have not read any of the base material I must say and probably hardly anybody who wants to see this little series here (or already has) has read the books. I cannot really say too much about the cast either, there are no famous big name actors in this one and with that I mean performers from Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders or Schlöndorff films really. But it is a small screen production, so certainly no big surprise. The one exception is perhaps Diether Krebs, who is still famous long after his death in Germany now. As for the title character, he was played by Patrick Bach and this was his very first of many performances. Not only did he get cast again afterward as the (male) lead in other ZDF Christmas mini-series productions, but also he has starred in many many other television series in the almost four decades since this was made. He is in his early 50s now, even if admittedly it is more than debatable if you can talk about quality with recurring roles on stuff like "Traumschiff" or "Rote Rosen". I don't think so. Then again, this one here is not exactly quality either. I think the first episode was okay, even if it has major weaknesses too and the only episode better than the beginning was the forth where I did not have to hesitate long to give a thumbs-up. All the other episodes deserve a thumbs-down only, especially 2 and 3. The final (sixth) episode was better again, but also not good enough for a poisitive recommendation. But it is interesting to see what happened to the cast over the years. Many cast members were already fairly old when this was made, there aren't really many characters aged between 20 and 40 in here, so many have died sadly and while Bach is still a prolific actor, others have not acted in films for decades, such as the one who plays Silas' best friend. Nina Rothemund also apparently has not acted in television for a decade almost, but the name maybe makes you watch out because yes it is true she is Sigi Rothemund's daughter and he is the director of all these episodes and many many other ZDf projects like the stuff I mentioned earlier, other holiday special mini-series I mean with that.

Okay, now let us take a little look at the story and plot here. There is a lot going on in these over 4 hours, many obstackes are overcome by Silas and his buddies. It's all about making friends for him, but also about making enemies and these are always the bad guys. Criminals usually. A really simple approach sadly. Shades are missing completely in this one. The one exception is maybe the so-called Pferdekrähe (horse crow), an elderly woman who seems to be the main antagonist for a long time, but in the end we find out she is not that bad of a person really and just sad and lonely. But this one use of shades cannot make up for everything else that is well.. not wrong with this one but fairly bland and uninspired. Even the landscapes could have been far more beautiful and fascinating than they eventually turned out to be. And also for Silas himself I am not convinced at all. Bach's line delivery was not particularly good and what he said also frequently felt scripted and not appropriate and realistic to say for a boy in his early 10s. Besides, it was ridiculous how smart he was with his still simple approach (for example he has everything he needs) and the wisdoms he throws out again and again. It just did not fit like I said for a boy his age. Actually, it did get annoying eventually and he was clearly a bit of a smart-ass which strongly went against the intended idea to depict him as super kind, super nice, super likable etc. fill in whatever positive adjective you got and it suits him for sure. Or at least was supposed to suit him. It also made all the grown-up characters look bad and honestly it did not even need to because the pretty childish fact that most of them carried animal names wasn't helping either. I already mentioned the Pferdekrähe and once and only her as a nickname like that would have been absolutely fine, but using this as a (not funny, not even intended to be funny) running gag felt just strange. And also Silas' holiness did not make his friends exactly look good really because all the material the two had was to make Silas look even better and more interesting and more likable. Bad idea. And especially sad because when on the very very rare occasions the duo of kids had their own material for once like when they were coming to help Silas and the girl asks if she is a friend now too, they actually do shine and add something meaningful and interesting to the story. Until they are put back in their place again, that is. Still to end this review on a positive note, I want to say that I liked the music most of the time. Especially the outro jingle was really catchy, although a bit sad or depressing too, at least that's what it felt like to me. Overall, a slight thumbs-up from me here. It's not a bad series and also not a failure, but unless you really dug this as a child, I don't think people will find this as charming and interesting as Rothemund wanted it to be. Or I hope for you that if you liked it as a child, you don't dislike it now. But I guess it is easier for a young mind to look past its not too few overall flaws than it is for a grown-up. And I say that as somebody who frequently really loves kids films, no matter if live action or animation. This is not one of them. Skip.