San Francisco, 1962. Since the nazis dropped an atomic bomb on Washington in 1946, the USA have been divided in three areas. The East is ruled by the Reich, the Pacific Coast by the Japanese. Between the two remains a “neutral zone”, still free but poor and open to all smuggling businesses. In San Francisco, Juliana Crain is given a film by her sister Trudy, before watching Trudy be shot by the Kempetai. Revolted, Juliana decides to take her sister’s place and deliver the film to the neutral zone. She leaves, unaware of the chaos her decision will unleash for her fiancé. In the neutral zone, she meets Joe Black, who is also carrying a film. These films are collected by the mysterious “man in the high castle”, and are believed to be able to change the future of the world. Actually, that is also what Hitler himself believes. He instructs one of his smartest officer, John Smith, to follow the trail of the films at all costs until the man in the high castle is found.
A carefully reconstructed alternative historical background, supporting a complex plot
It is impossible to put in a short summary all the main narrative arcs and main characters of the first season. The characters are often endearing, and that is what makes a very dark story still interesting to follow. Tagomi, Ed, Childan, Helen, Thomas… They all play their part creating empathy for their fate. Even the now (but not always) evil John Smith commands respect for his ability to systematically outwit all his enemies – and they are numerous and cruel, defending his family at all cost. The characters and actors are all good. I was only less convinced by Juliana.
It is also impossible to talk about this scenario without a spoiler about what will be revealed at the end of season 2 : it’s a story about alternative worlds, and passages between them. Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, the series explores two questions “what if ?”. What if the Germany and the Japan had won the war ? What if several alternative realities could communicate ? Understandably, the resulting plot is very complex. In order to simplify, the scenario focuses on one reality, actually, part of it : nothing is told about what happens in the rest of the world outside USA, Japan and Germany.
The narration is often too slow for my taste, and the general atmosphere too dark (wich is coherent with the story, though). However, the man in the high castle offers a meticulous description of a world under Nazi’s rule, served by a great casting and beautiful sets and landscapes. It’s spine-chilling and thought-provoking. Freedom seems all the more beautiful and precious.
4 seasons, 40 episodes (60 mn), 2015-2019, on Amazon Prime Video
WITH : Rufus Sewell SS-Obergruppenführer John Smith, Alexa Davalos as Juliana Crain, Luke Kleintank as Joe Blake, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Nobusuke Tagomi, Joel de la Fuente as Takeshi Kido, Rupert Evans as Frank Frink, Chelah Horsdal as Helen Smith, Quinn Lord as Thomas Smith, DJ Qualls as Ed McCarthy, Brennan Brown as Robert Childan, Stephen Root as Hawthorne Abendsen, Rick Worthy as Lemuel “Lem” Washington…