A modern German masterpiece

Edgar Reitz's Heimat trilogy tells us more about life in 20th-century Europe - Germany, in particular - than any other screen epic. Taken as a whole, this mammoth undertaking is a masterpiece.

Heimat 3 is screened in six parts, sub-titled A Chronicle of Beginnings and Endings, and covers the period from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the turn of the century. Its main characters are Hermann and Clarissa, a composer and a singer, reunited as a couple after almost two decades apart. They set up home close to Schabbach, in the rural area where the first Heimat was set. We also meet their children, siblings, parents, friends and workmates.

The purpose of Heimat, which literally means Homecoming but has come to denote rather more than that, is to show how history impacts on these people. Heimat 3 has a melancholic edge to it. This is perhaps because Reitz himself, now over 70, is disappointed with the hope largely dashed after reunification, and possibly because Europe itself is floundering, unsure of its purpose.

Even so, this is a brilliantly made, fascinatingly characterised and beautifully structured landmark series that will never be bettered.

Heimat 3: A Chronicle Of Endings And Beginnings - Part 1: The Happiest People In The World
Cert: cert15