14 - Diaries of the Great War


14 - Diaries of the Great War is a 2014 international documentary drama series about World War I. It uses a mix of acted scenes, archive footage, and animation. All episodes were directed by Jan Peter, series authors were Jan Peter and Yury Winterberg. In a dramatic advisory capacity, Dutch producer and screenwriter Maarten van der Duin and BBC-author Andrew Bampfield worked on the film's development. The series is based on an idea by Gunnar Dedio, producer at the film company LOOKSfilm and Ulrike Dotzer, the Head of Department ARTE at Norddeutscher Rundfunk.

Synopsis

The individual episodes of the series tell the story of the First World War, not from the perspective of politicians and the military; but from the perspective of soldiers, housewives, factory workers, nurses and children. In total there are 14 main characters. Meaningful scenes from their lives are re-enacted and intertwined. The result is not only a political or military history of the First World War, but a story that poignantly captures the feelings and moods of the people.

Episodes

Cast and characters

The series was produced by LOOKSfilm Leipzig, Les Films d’ici Paris und Filmoption International Montreal. The series is one of the most elaborate docudrama formats ever co-produced in Germany and was already sold in more than 25 countries worldwide before broadcast. The budget for the German version alone was around 6 million euros, for all the international versions together the budget was closer to 8 million euros.

Development

The scripts are based on quotes from diaries and letters from men and women who experienced World War I in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia and the United States, who wrote during the period from 1914 to 1918. More than 1,000 journals and collections of letters were examined and 14 stories of World War I were selected from this compilation. Overall, the selection of the diaries and subsequent development work took four years.

Archive footage

The series uses cinematic and photographic archive material from a total of 71 archives in 21 countries. Most material came from British Pathé, Gaumont Pathé, Krasnogorsk, Bundesfilmarchiv, Österreichisches Filmmuseum, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Imperial War Museum.

Filming

The series was filmed in France, Canada and Germany. Filming took place over a total of 50 days. The French part of the shoot took place in and around Strasbourg. Among the location were the historical baths, an abandoned brewery and the chateau of Frœschwiller. The Canadian part of the shoot took place in the province of Québec. Among the locations were an old quarry north of Montreal, where a trench system, complete with accompanying No-Man's-Land was constructed.

Team

DirectorJan Peter
AuthorsJan Peter, Yury Winterberg, Maarten van der Duin, Andrew Bampfield, Stephan Falk, Florian Huber
CinematographyJürgen Rehberg
MusicLaurent Eyquem
Production DesignPatric Valverde, Michel Marsolais
Costume DesignValerie Adda
Editing & Graphics DesignSusanne Schiebler
EditingMartin Schröder, Jasmin Hoffhaus

Music

The score was created by the French composer Laurent Eyquem. Choir pieces were recorded in Prague.

Release

Broadcast

began broadcasting the eight-part series on 29 April 2014 in Germany and France, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. Additional partners of the series are SWR, NDR and WDR in Germany; ORF in Austria; and the BBC in the United Kingdom. ARD and ORF broadcast the series as four episodes of 45 minutes each. The BBC broadcast the series under the title Great War Diary in three episodes of 60 minutes.
Dutch broadcasters NTR and VPRO produced an additional episode about the situation in the Netherlands which aired on 5 April 2014, on Nederland 2. The remaining eight "international" episodes aired in the Netherlands between 12 April and 7 June.
Sweden's SVT had several additional segments produced for their airing of the series which included introductions to each episode by historian and author Peter Englund and dramatisations of diaries from six Swedes to tell the story of Sweden during the Great War. These were edited into the original eight episodes which meant they ended up with a running time of sixty minutes. This version of the series premièred on SVT1 on 26 June.

Home media

The German edition of the series was released on 14 May 2014, on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

In other media

Radio feature

Beginning on 9 March 2014 the WDR broadcast a six-part, eponymous Radio Documentary by Christine Sievers and Nicolaus Schröder. This series is based and created in collaboration with the TV series.

Print

The series is accompanied by a coffee table book, which was published by BBC Books in the United Kingdom, and Bucher Verlag in Germany. In eight chapters, the book presents high resolution photographs, which were colorized prior and during World War I. Each photo is accompanied by a diary quote. The foreword is written by Peter Englund. The book "14 - Der große Krieg" by Oliver Janz was published in October 2013 by Campus Verlag.

Exhibition

The Military History Museum Dresden shows in a special exhibition "14-Menschen-Krieg" from 01. August 2014 until 24. February 2015 all 14 biographies and their perspectives on World War I. The exhibition focuses on the eve of the war and furthermore shows the dimension and forms of sufferings of both, soldiers and civilians. The exhibition draws a conclusion of World War I and ends with a forecast on the soon to follow World War II.

Reception

Critical response

The series received very positive reviews. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called it "Gripping, emotional, and real. A milestone for European television.". Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the series as "A story of the destruction and the future of television.". Stuttgarter Zeitung calls it "Woven together like a modern television series.". Neue Zürcher Zeitung says that "the program manages to fascinate by combining different observations, in different locations, and managing to condense these into a coherent mood.". Le Monde ascribes to the series "a never before seen virtuosity", while Direct Matin calls it "of exceptional quality." The Dutch version of the series was described as follows by NRC Handelsblad: "Phantastic Television Making… We ride a rollercoaster of emotions, as if we are not supposed to understand history but rather to live it ourselves." After watching the series on Netflix, William F.B. O'Reilly called the series "superbly done" and said "unlike other Netflix programming that escapes the mind moments after consumption, "14" lingers. It consumes its viewers rather than the other way around."

Audience ratings

BroadcasterCountryTimeslotTarget Rating
for Timeslot
Average Rating
Episodes 1-8
ARTEGermanyTuesday, 20.15 - 22.501,0%1,4%
ARTEFranceTuesday, 20.50 - 23.352,0%2,2%
ORFAustriaTuesday, 22.35 - 00.05 + Friday, 22.50 - 00.2012,2%14,0%