‘The Rain’ piques interest
AT THE Netflix See What’s Next preview event held earlier this month, media guests were treated to a special screening of the upcoming Scandinavian series The Rain.
An original series for Netflix, the show focuses on two siblings, Simone and Rasmus, who have been hiding in a bunker for six years after their parents took them there for safety, discovering the rain contains a virus that kills people as soon as it touches their skin. Imagine that happening in droughtstricken Cape Town!
The siblings are quickly taken into this bunker in the middle of the woods and are told to stay there until their father returns. Their dad seemingly knows the reason why the rain has this virus. Alba August plays the role of Simone and Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen as her younger brother Rasmus.
As dad goes on a quest to find the others who know about the virus he tells Simone to look out for her brother and to never leave the bunker. Fast forward six years and dad is not back, Rasmus has grown much taller than Simone and he longs to see daylight.
Also, they’ve run short on supplies to keep living in the bunker. They discovered a map of other bunkers when they were still trying to search for clues on where their father could be.
Flashbacks to when life was still simple have Simone eavesdropping on conversations between her parents talking about how to save Rasmus who was then suffering from a life-threatening disease.
Before her father left them in the bunker, he told Simone that Rasmus was the key to it all which leaves us as the audience coming up with our own reasons as to why the rain is wiping out all of Scandinavia and what Rasmus’ father did to keep his son alive all those years ago.
The duo eventually come out to light only to find no human life until a group of survivors “knock” at the door of their bunker and the series starts to unfold. All this happens in the first two episodes.
This coming of age drama is one of the many young adult features Netflix is set on continuing.
Global hits like 13 Reasons Why and Stranger Things are breaking records and opening up an even bigger market for the service.
Shot in Denmark and Sweden, The Rain was an opportunity to make a show in a different format to what the production crew was used to, which is short form stories.
Scandinavian content has global appeal and travels well across borders.
“That’s mainly because of limited resources, so we need to tell stories in specific ways and I think we are standing on the shoulders of Danish shows like The Bridge which have found a way to tell stories in small environments.
“I think Scandinavian life – dark and melancholy – piques the interest of people,” said show producer Janik Tai Mosholt.
For the cast, shooting a longer form series was an interesting process.
“Time is a big difference, in Denmark (usually) we have like five weeks to do it and here (with Netflix) we had five months so we had so much more time to develop characters and story,” said Mikkel Boe Følsgaard who plays the role of Martin, the leader of the survivors.
Alba August found it tricky to shoot for a longer period of time.
“I didn’t have the experience of doing a TV show like this to be shooting for so many months. It was hard to keep my focus for long and my energy up. You get tired after a while. It’s important to have a group where there is positive energy and that was created for us.”
The young adult movement is something Tønnesen was proud to be a part of.
“Starting off with a Netflix series is huge; it’s been amazing to be part of it. I grew up with 13 Reasons Why and Stranger Things, watching with my family. It’s an incredible feeling to be part of the Netflix family now.”
August said it was necessary for young people to have their own movies and series.
Christian Potalivo, show producer, wanted to keep the show authentically Danish.
“We wanted to hold on to what we know. We come from a country where we have a lot of rain and are a very well structured society and in many ways fortunate.
“To tell a story about coming from that part of the world and what we would do when that ‘security wall’ is changed, how we would react afterwards feels good to be able to do. Young adult is such a niche, doing a show like this that connects to people worldwide connects the themes that all young adults have troubles with. We all know the feelings of first love and jealousies.”
The actors dubbed their scenes themselves so English speaking viewers can enjoy the show as authentically as Danish speaking viewers.
The Rain premiers on Netflix on Friday, May 4.