"Die Zweite Heimat - Chronik Einer Jugend" or "Heimat II: A Chronicle of a Generation" is a German 13-part mini series from 1992, so this one just had its 25th anniversary and like the others it was made by Edgar Reitz of course, who followed up on his original Heimat mini series with this one here focusing on the life of Hermann played by Henry Arnold. So while the first was mostly about a female character, this one here is about a male. It's a really long series as a whole, longer than the first, as most of the episodes run for 2 hours approximately, so you need to watch for over 24 hours straight if you wanna see the entire thing in one sitting. But maybe you shouldn't really as honestly I felt that the longer it went, the more it began to drag. The first episodes were still somewhat entertaining and interesting, but it doesn't stay that way. Then again, I wasn't too big on Heimat I, so no surprise I did not like this one here too much either. If you sat through the first and liked it, then this one here will be for your liking too maybe. This is the background you should consider when weighing in if you want to see this one. As for myself, I cannot say it impress me too much all in all and it did not really make me curious about Heimat III that I have not seen yet by now. My favorite is still Heimat IV, the relatively recent theatrical release here in Germany that I genuinely enjoyed and that had some moments of greatness even. Back to this one here: One thing I found as irritating as in the first already was the frequent shifting between color and black-and-white that hardly made any sense for me. As for the characters, some were okay, some were forgettable. I think the acting all in all wasn't really the problem here. And the very last of the 13 episodes felt really bizarre too I must say, maybe the weakest of them all and way too much style over substance, which kinda confirms my theory that it did not only get worse after the first few episodes, but that there is another drop in quality towards the end too, a pretty massive one actually. So from my review you can certainly see that I wasn't a big fan here, but like I said earlier you should take your appreciation (or lack thereof) for the first series into account when considering seeing this one here which is not exactly a sequel though, at least not in the strictest sense. I give it a thumbs-down overall.
