'Allo Allo'

I have always made clear that I don't like to talk about politics, nor am I even interested in the topic. The only political reference, just about, was an old TV series made in 1982, which I saw not too long ago repeated here in the Spanish channel, called 'Allo Allo'. The one depicting the period of the world war 2, with the central characters, every one of them, brilliantly portrayed. You looked at them and start to laugh even before they ever said a word.

You know them, don't you? The bar owner Rene, his wife Edith, the waitress and occasional lovers Yvette and Maria, and Michelle the dead serious spy; Colonel Von Strohm, Lieutenant Gruber, Otto Flick of the Gestapo, the General Klinkerhoffern ... Just naming them conjures up in my memory each and every one of these hilarious characters, all so cleverly created, delightfully portrayed and remain so vivid still even now so many years later, that I can't help smiling from ear to ear.

I am sure many of you know it well and had enjoyed it as much as I did. How can we not remember the French with their fervour in overdoses of collaborationism, the British spies disguised as French citizens, simply by speaking accented and thus thought of as disguised English, and therefore becoming French (!!), with a string of onions round their necks and a beret on their heads, on bicycles circulating the city on the left side of the road ... delicious details.

A most entertaining comedy, parody of the war, a burlesque imitation of a serious subject, patriotism and many aspects of human nature, that had been shown in nearly every country of the Globe, even in Mongolia, but not in Germany. Until 2008 I think. A delay of more than a quarter century. The Germans in all the episodes are illustrated as somewhat idiotic bumbling morons in uniforms. No doubt this manifestation, and that of the senseless and cruel war, was the reason for the 26 year delay you think?

It's apparently doing extremely well in Germany, creating immediately the most viewed record. Who says the Germans are generally lacking humour?

Tags:alloallo,warparody,partiotism,Germany,Mongolia

• Current Mood: amused