TRIBES OF EUROPA: A Post-EU Apocalyptic Vision

The rumor (or marketing message) has it that screenwriter Philip Koch was so terrified by the consequences of the upcoming Brexit that he had to transform this fear into an artistic vision of the end of Europe as we know it. The question is whether he really had to share this vision with Netflix subscribers in a form of Tribes of Europa.

The year is 2074, the Old Continent has been apocalyptically ravaged. After Black December, that is, the blackout of 2029, Europe plunged into chaos, and instead of continental integration, deep and irreversible divisions occurred, resulting in the formation of dozens/hundreds of tribes fighting each other for power.

Some (the Crimson), led by the Father, wish to rebuild the order from before the catastrophe, others (the Crows) seek military domination regardless of the consequences.

At the epicenter of the war are the Origines, a people hiding in the forests, longing for peace and a life in harmony with the rhythm of nature. Three of their representatives – siblings Liv (Henriette Confurius), Kiano (Emilio Sakraya), and Elja (David Ali Rashed) – are separated and end up in different centers of power.

The spark of the conflict, apart from the obvious inflated ambitions, is the appearance of a mysterious ship of the Atlantians with a cube on board, whose power can radically change the face of the rivalry and tip the scales to one of the sides.

It only takes watching the first episode of Tribes of Europa for references to The 100 and Game of Thrones to pop into one’s head. The German production is connected to the CW series primarily by its depiction of a degraded reality, where destroyed buildings, advanced technology, and swords as basic weapons of combat can coexist side by side.

The combination of tribal, medieval, and postmodern elements, while putting young heroes at the center of the events, is no longer surprising, especially when one recalls See, produced by Apple TV+.

The adventures of the German siblings themselves resemble the fate of the youngest scions of the shattered House Stark. Besides, in both productions, once from the North and once from the Far East, an unknown danger approaches, against which there will likely arise the necessity of forging a multi-vector alliance.

The foundations of the Netflix series are obvious: discord ruins when, in place of altruistic integration, national, or in this case tribal, particularisms appear. The political nature of Tribes of Europa can clearly be read through the prism of tectonic movements taking place on the social plane, as trust in EU structures declines.

This is why the heroes coming from a people professing isolationism are drawn into the whirlwind of events. The changes are so powerful that there is no escaping them. The disappearance of legal mechanisms responsible for maintaining security leads to anarchy. The thing is, the story presented is not in any way moving, since what we see on screen are mostly cardboard figures rather than flesh-and-blood characters.

Their motivations are clear from the very beginning, many dialogues touch on the same issues, and on top of that, the screenwriters do not try to nuance the main message of the series.

Everything plays out as if automatically, according to repeatedly used rules, leaving no room for surprise at any moment. True, six approximately forty-five-minute episodes pass imperceptibly, the action rushes forward at breakneck speed, but so what, if apart from short-lived fun, Koch et consortes offer nothing that could move, shock, or possibly prompt one to confront the series’ reality with one’s own beliefs.

Whoever believes in the sense of the European Union will click their tongue in approval after watching Tribes of Europa, while those who are Eurosceptics will find disapproval in the story they have just watched.

It cannot be denied that the first season of the German production is merely a prologue to a story planned on a much larger scale. Perhaps the screenwriters will receive more money to realize their visions once the audience trusts them after the premiere of six episodes, thanks to which the series will become much more spectacular. For now, Tribes of Europa can be treated as a quiet posthumous child of Game of Thrones.

A separate paragraph must be devoted to two actors who significantly stand out above the general, very average tendency. Melika Foroutan and Oliver Masucci, for it is them, have fun with their roles, steal every scene they are in, and I simply cannot wait for their confrontation, which may one day happen.

She plays a slightly but consciously exaggerated femme fatale commanding a large unit of Crows, a warrior fighting for power and possessing a male harem, while he is a Shakespearean jester in a post-apocalyptic world. He twitches his mustache, is Mephistophelianly charming, and on top of that can pierce the inflated balloon of seriousness at just the right moment.

There are more reasons for disappointment than for delight in Tribes of Europa, but there is enormous potential in this series that, with a bit of luck, may be used to create a truly fascinating spectacle.