Recently released on Netflix, the miniseries titled All The Light We Cannot See is based on the Pulitzer-winning author Anthony Doerr’s novel of the same name. The show was directed by Shawn Levy and developed and written by Steven Knight. It has received mixed reviews from critics and fans.
The show was dropped on the platform on November 2nd, 2023, and follows the story of a blind French girl and a war-torn German soldier whose destinies lead them to each other during the Second World War. The book, obviously, is near-perfect, and fans have expressed their appreciation for the writing style, plot, and characters non-stop.
But like what happens with shows adapted from books, the makers of All The Light We Cannot See have managed to ruin the overall quality of the story with their messy direction and bad scriptwriting.
This four-part series stars Aria Mia Loberti as Marie-Laure LeBlanc, the blind teen, and Louis Hofmann as Unterfeldwebel Werner Pfennig, the German who ends up being drafted as a soldier in the leading roles.
Apart from these two, the show also has Lars Eidinger, Hugh Laurie, Mark Ruffalo, Marion Bailey, Felix Kammerer, Andrea Deck, and so many others. Turns out even a talented cast could not hide how messy the show really is.
The show has some stark differences from the book and has failed to capture the subtle nuances of the plot. Many who have watched the series found it to be completely lacking when it came to characterizing complex German characters.
The show fails to do the book and the original story any justice. Be it the bad acting, the poorly written dialogues, or the lack of a three-dimensional plotline, the show has failed the fans of the book in more ways than one. Despite this, the miniseries has surely refreshed our memories of the book and has left many curious about whether or not the story is based on a true story.
Is All The Light We Cannot See based on a true story?
The book is set during the Second World War era, a very real and tragic time for many. The book, which is a historical fiction, has made sure to be true to the historical elements of the story, including the 1994 siege and the battle of Saint-Malo.
Having said this, the story of the French girl and the German boy meeting in then-occupied France and having their lives intertwined is all fictional and based on the actual events of the time. Writer Doerr took time to read about history and talk to people who could tell him more about the life of the general public of those times.
He revealed that he knew that those sensitive times had to be portrayed with rawness and realness. Events of the twisted should not get twisted because of his words, and he took the job seriously. This might be why he was able to come up with a story that reaches straight for the heart.
The European setting and the nuanced lives of the characters in his book are all thanks to his dedication to coming up with such a real story. Revealing an angry passenger on one of his train rides and his own curious train of thought about how the city of Saint-Malo survived the World War attack as his inspiration to write the book left the fans amazed by the author’s genuineness.
The Netflix series is based on the book, as we mentioned before, so it only makes sense that the show is also not based on a true story. The makers of the show have chosen a different path for some characters in the story, even ending the story in a different way.
This does not make the show’s story any real, and just like the book, only the historical aspects used remain true to how things actually happened, but the arcs of the individual characters are all made up. Real or not, the story definitely managed to leave an impact on us, so make sure you give the show and the book a try, of course.
