Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3357 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-22
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 450 minutes

DVD Description
Michael Palin undertakes a new journey through Eastern Europe in this fascinating BBC series, breathing in its rich history, filming its exquisite sights and talking to its diverse peoples.

Until the early 1990s, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, traveling behind the iron curtain was never easy and now Palin fills what has been a void in his own experience and that of very many of his own generation.

As in all his series, Palin's New Europe takes the form of a journey through countries which have rich and complex cultures. Few have survived intact, as the ebb and flow of warring armies has continually changed the map of Europe.

Starting in the mountains of Slovenia he travels down through Croatia and the former Yugoslavia to Albania before turning northwards to embrace Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, The Ukraine, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former East Germany, Poland, the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (as Konigsberg originally home to the Teutonic Knights), Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, opening up a new and undiscovered world to millions of viewers.

Synopsis
Intrepid television explorer Michael Palin takes us on a fascinating journey behind the former Iron Curtain. Palin embarks upon a trip that starts in the mountains of Slovenia and takes through Croatia, Albania, The Ukraine, former East Germany and Latvia, showcasing an undiscovered part of our continent that's as beautiful as it is mysterious.

Customer Reviews

SADLY NOT ONE OF PALIN'S INSPIRING TRAVEL DOCUMENTARIES...
Having been greatly entertained and inspired by Palin's previous travel documentaries, I eagerly awaited his latest European adventure... yet what a disappointment.

For once Palin fails to capture the magic of the countries he visits, no fascinating cultural insights, no interesting characters along the way... just a collage of unrepresentative, uninteresting, uninspiring content.

Perhaps the comparatively familiar culture and customs of Europe could never inspire as much as those experienced on one of Palin's more remote and exotic journeys?

...certainly Palin's latest series failed to inspire.

Sadly, even the pleasurable thought of meeting Michael at a local book signing couldn't lure me along to purchase this documentary.

?
Dont know what this was supposed to be, if Palin had an idea or was just filming whatever he found, if he had a clue about those countries he was trying to 'document'. If it was supposed to be a documentary, well, me as a slovakian watching a part about my country made me think why is he trying to make one of europes most booming economies look like a country from couple of centuries ago. For me he did what people want to see and what will sell, developed west and east that is far behind. Couldnt see there anything that would show Slovakia as it is so as a documentary this is a total nonsense. Showing few attractions and saying this is what it look like there, this is what they live like. If I was making a movie about Britain I definitely wouldnt go and film the poorest region and say yea this is Britain.

Milyen lószar..........
I have lived in Hungary now for 16 years and worked in all of the countries that Michael Palin visited. Having enjoyed all his other series I looked forward keenly to seeing how he would interpret the different cultures that he visited and what conclusions he would draw as to how the New Europe would evolve.

I was stunned therefore to see that he had made not the slightest attempt to understand any aspect of what makes these different countries tick: what he gave wasn't even a half decent travelogue. I hardly recognised the countries from the appalling pastiche that the BBC cobbled together.

I agree with a previous reviewer that the series is effectively the Michael Palin show: does it really give us any insight into a country to see him in clearly organised "spontaneous" events which are nothing to do with normal life in the country.

I found that as I watched the series I became increasingly annoyed and depressed that this fascinating part of the world was being portrayed in this slipshod and patronising manner. I simply couldn't see any aspect of the reality of these countries - either good or bad - portrayed in this series.

I am writing this review in Albania - but the real one not the Disneyland version that Michale Palin seemed to have visited.