Wonderful character development!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

I cannot recommend this series highly enough... I found it excellent in every aspect: the writing, directing, photography, acting, the music score. It is deeply moving and brought me to tears in several moments.As a period piece it has no rival; it is head and shoulders above any other historical series in TV. It is certainly of much better artistic quality than The Tudors, Rome, and The Vikings series, for instance. It is actually difficult to compare with anything else ever made for TV.It is a series for adults, treating serious themes seriously, and with powerful messages about the stupidity and horrors of war, and the delusions and vanity of politicians; though it is set in Denmark, Germany and the UK in the 1850's and 1860's, most of it applies to situations in the US and Europe in the beginning of the 21st Century: it is a real masterpiece.I really find it hard to understand why some people gave it a low rating... Perhaps it was too profound, too serious, too disturbing? It's certainly not a popcorn & soda production to help you escape reality: it is more a wake-up call to escape escapism. The war scenes were indeed realistic and horrible as real war is; no adolescent glorification of combat. Indeed, the series denounces the naivety of young people joyfully marching off into war as if it were a picnic, and then being scarred by it forever. As for the alternation between past and present, I did not find it confusing; I found it gave the audience time for reflection and for making the very important connections between past and present, between history and present-day disenchantment, between millennials and a much older generation. I could easily see long debates going on about the messages the series conveys, addressing issues of personal and national identity, the roles of religious and political leaders, the meaning of heroism. You could easily have a whole graduate course organized around these 8 chapters.In the end, I was sad to see it finish; yet it was correctly proportioned from beginning till end. The last chapter was not rushed (which is often the case with made for TV productions) and it left me wishing all series were as good as this one.

The series is interesting, exciting and fascinating for someone who is interested in history and in the inner lives of complex characters and relationships.The (Danish) characters are likable and easy to identify with.When you like battle scenes, you will probably get your money's worth. The battle and fight scenes are well-produced and exciting.For someone who is interested in history, the costumes and props give the series a very realistic flair, which makes it easy to get into the whole situation.Still, there were some things I wasn't quite sure what to make of.It is certainly natural to emphasize the perspective of the narrator's side in such a movie. However, was it really necessary to present the Germans either as super-villains (a Hussar-officer who looks like a zombie? A general in charge who comes across like a psychopath?) or completely inept (the Danish soldiers were killing so many Germans left and right in brave hand-to-hand fighting, I actually thought they were winning)?These were moments when the series came across a bit like a comic movie.A more balanced and contextual depiction of the characters would help to enjoy a historical series like this, in my opinion.Apart from these smaller aspects, I think the series is well worth watching.

In 1864, Denmark launched what seems in retrospect an inexplicable war of national expansion. It ended in ignominious defeat at the hands of Bismark's Prussian army. '1864' attempts to tell the story of this war, and is both a personal tale centred on a number of its protagonists, and perhaps also, a story of the eventual birth of the Denmark we know today, the peaceful modern social democracy that eventually superseded the nationalist pretensions of the 19th century. There's been a lot of Danish drama released internationally in recent years, but it's a small country, and fans of other Danish series will recognise a huge proportion of the cast in this one. But sadly, '1864' does not live up to the standards of 'The Killing' or 'Borgen'. It's slow, ponderous, repetitive, obvious and the attempt to wrap up the 19th century story in a contemporary wrapping further reduces the immediacy of the drama. The budget for battle scenes, meanwhile, seems to have been spent entirely in episode 7, which is impressive in itself, but the rest of the episodes speak of war without actually showing it very much. And we never really understand just how the Danish politicians thought that the war could actually be won. Outside of Denmark, the war of 1864 is a little known quirk of European history; I'd be interested to know more, but in spite of its 8 hour duration, I finished this drama still frustratingly uninformed.

Series shows very well how some agitators can create too much national feeling and guide people to think "we deserve what others have". Some things reminded me much of 3rd Reich too which happened laters in Germany and what is also sadly happening in Russia today.Pictures greatly how common people pay the highest price when things escalate to madness like war. Its common today and mostly by US made films to raise war to something "heroic" and "glorious" where individuals just keep going and going like nothing touches them really. which is total bullshit.There is ongoing try to wipe the past we people have had with wars in this world.And when reading others comments people are too used to see those war glorifying movies which is supported at least US war industries and government. Guess you need some life experience to see thru all current "propaganda" that is happening.Overall, nice acting and feeling in movie which you see rarely today unfortunately.Hope Danes make more series like this. :)