Strangers and Brothers

I found this series immensely satisfying - like a slice of Finnish black bread. Strangers and Brothers is an intellectual drama full of men and women who are strong and articulate. CP Snow's goal was certainly not to mirror mundane reality but to reflect through his characters British power in the world, its deflation, reorientation, and resilience, from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, and to illustrate by way of one character the transition from socialist to establishment.

The characters are witty, complex, and intellectual; they struggle with history and conscience while they strive to navigate a nation through the first stages of the cold war.

I'm a great fan of Yes Minister, which treats politicians and civil servants with an equal dose of withering cynicism. Strangers and Brothers is a wonderful tonic to such appalling, effete politics. Here we find the caliber of people we'd like to believe are in government and other positions of power and policy-making.

Finally, central to Strangers and Brothers are the contrasting themes of existential aloneness and concern for one's fellow man and woman. This wonderful series is stimulating and mature, and makes me yearn for more movies of this quality.