All the Light We Cannot See

This was fantastic . I am a huge fan of the book - read it several times . This was a great ADAPTATION- here is the key. It is not exactly the same - it's not meant to be . The essence of the book was here, it felt true to the original to me .

It was filmed really well , it was cast incredibly . The casting of a blind actress really made the whole thing come together . I love love Hoffman - "Dark" being my favorite tv show of all time - and he was perfect as Werner .

The ending was different , but in many ways I would actually argue this ending was better . The feeling of liberation and sacrifice were displayed so well and so tragically . Everything didn't work out - you don't know what happens. It leaves you with hope - it leaves you looking for the light .

My issue with this was the language choice . It would have been exponentially better if it had been done in French and German . That is one of my biggest issues in media in general is veering away from true languages in order to put in English with accents . Language is culture , culture is story telling , story telling is history , history is how we feel connection and by using English it was a huge disservice to the story .

It would have been a 10- watch it , read the book , look for the light .

Loved Louis Hofmann in DARK so I have to watch it. It's a warm tale of courage and hope that's been told via a French blind girl & a German soldier in World War II days. It was surprising to see Nazi radio enthusiast, Werner talking in a non German accent & Ruffalo being British while in Paris.

The story gets tangled with flashbacks, cinematography was more focused than the emotional connect of protagonists. It could have been better, maybe it's just the timing when the world is at war again.

"Darkness lasts not even for one second when you turn on the light". The crux of the show perhaps...

This is a fantastic story. Too bad the makers of it didn't invest in great writers. I know the cast is super talented, but I felt at moments that both Ruffalo and Laurie were miscast. But the dialogue at times was just plain bad. Things were said two or three times that should not have been said at all - like the audience was too stupid to understand unless they spelled things out explicitly. Still, it's worth a watch just because the story is excellent, and other than the occasionally bad writing, the rest of the film is enjoyable. Most viewers will like it - only snobs like me will find any issues with it.

Firstly, I read the book, All the light we cannot see and found it to be a profoundly beautiful book. Doerr the writer described the events in such beautiful terms and moves the reader with his words, I just had to put the book down on occasions to close my eyes and be there, with them, for a minute to let the emotions and images wash over me. To be truthful I was a little bit worried when I heard Netflix was doing a series, but overjoyed when I read that Louis Hoffman, from the brilliant Dark, was playing Werner the main character. Aria Maria Loberti a legally blind new actress, was also very believable and strong. I think that the series tried very hard to encapsulate the concepts of the story. Nothing can ever be as good as the book. Very few series or films are as good as the original book, in which our own imagination draws the environment, the people and their natures and their characters. In this series the two young main characters were absolutely beautiful, and Lewis Hoffman is a stunning young actor and I have much regard for him and found it an absolute pleasure to watch. My only complaint about the whole series was Marie-Laurie walking without shoes with glass and debris everywhere go r so long towards the end, but that's a small complaint overall. I'm also rereading the book now.

All The Light We Cannot See takes a lot of liberties compared to its source material. The most glaring of which is its choice of having everyone speak English. It's a jarring decision and incredibly inconsistent with its actors. You have German Actora portraying Germans speaking English in France with a German Accent, British Actors Portraying the French in France with English Accents, and an American Actor portraying a Frenchman in France with an English Accent.

The biggest thing missed out because if all that is how important the language barrier was there, both historically and in the source material but someone made an ill-advised decision to have everyone speak English instead of going with what would have been an excellent subtitled series with everyone speaking their character's native and/or learned tongues.

Aria (Marie) does an excellent job in her acting debut, along with her more seasoned German co-star Louis Hofman. Hugh Laurie is an absolute delight to watch in anything and the supporting cast does well. Now for the Elephant in the room, I have absolutely no idea why the hell they put Mark Ruffalo in this. He is neither French, nor German, and speaks with a terrible British accent. You could easily find a multi-lingual actor (Christoph Waltz as a popular example) who could easily take that same role and blow it out of the water. Instead we get a half-baked heartless performance from Ruffalo that probably cost them a large portion of their budget to bring on board.

This could've been an excellent series if they took the time to let it cook some more, had a few more episodes, and made some better casting decisions. Instead it sits, in my eyes, not nearing its full potential, despite some stellar performances from young actors and actresses, great cinematography, costuming, and location/environment shooting.

6/10 I lament what could've been an excellent unique period piece limited series.