EVERYONE HAS A MORBID, SORDID TIME
Captivating psychological thriller set in a haunted little German town unto which comes a saviour, writes
e trust that time is linear. That it proceeds eternally, uniformly. Into infinity. But the distinction between past, present and future is nothing but an illusion. Yesterday today and tomorrow are not consecutive, they are connected in a never-ending circle. Everything is connected.”
This eerily ominous monologue is the fitting start of Netflix’s hair-raising psychological thriller that has people online losing their minds. Dark is a captivating series with a deliciously twisted plot that embodies the name in every sense of the word.
Set in the small German town of Winden, Dark deals with greed, secrets, manipulation, retribution, atonement, salacious affairs rooted in unforgotten grudges and impressions of innocence. All these themes lie just below the surface and the writers make a great effort to dig into each and come up with a well-thought-out narrative that spans 10 50-minute episodes. This story is as morbid as it is sordid.
In the first episode, two children go missing within two weeks of each other and their disappearances leave the entire town with a menacing sense of déjà vu, as if everything has happened before.
This sets us off on a convoluted path through time, unravelling the mysterious ties that bind Winden’s residents. Amid lies, double lives and youthful innocence, death, in many forms, comes to visit Winden’s residents. Birds drop from the sky due to some freakish and unknown force. More children go missing while unidentified bodies are found. The town is haunted by a ghost that is very much alive.
Religious symbolism seeps slowly into the narrative, though obscure at first. Associating lipstick and prostitution, mentions of Satanism and sheep mysteriously dying are weird at first but their divine significance culminates in the introduction of a man who sees himself as something of a saviour, but it’s not clear what he thinks people need saving from and why.
Given Germany’s history, it makes sense that Dark is metaphorically linked with the nation’s obsession with righting the wrongs of the past. We’re taken back and forth in time — between 2019, 1983 and 1956 — and are caught up in a multilayered story that flips our perspective of time on its head.
Every single scene is beautifully shot. The camera work complements the fulfilling storyline with amazing imagery, playing contrasts of light and colour to evoke the right level of foreboding. Bright yellows, blues and pinks are placed against cold and lifeless buildings, homes and bodies. The dim hallways, heavy fog and deserted roads that run through the forest, illuminated by sad streetlamps, will leave you shivering.
Do not expect many answers or a solid conclusion from Dark. You will be disappointed.
The show commands your attention and leaves you feeling slightly deranged once you’ve trawled subreddits trying to figure out who is what – in a good way. The line between victim, villain and hero becomes heavily blurred as we draw closer to the end. Everything is connected. Dark explores our complex relationship with our idea of God, sin, morality and divine reckoning.
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LDark is available on Netflix.