ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE One Of Netflix’s Most-Streamed Shows
By Movieguide® Contributor
Netflix’s ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE was one of the most-streamed shows of November.
“The World War II Netflix drama was the only streaming original to crack the Top 10 streaming titles for the month with 2.14B minutes viewed,” Deadline reported. “That is a fairly incredible performance for the four-episode limited series, which joins a slate of titles with hundreds of episodes to help rack up those totals.”
This benchmark in viewership contributed to Netflix’s overall streaming stats; over the past month, the streaming service saw an 8.6% increase in usage.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE was a hit with both viewers and critics.
The Guardian wrote that the series was “beautifully lit [and] lovingly shot,” adding “it looks gorgeous,” while Variety said the show “calls on viewers to acknowledge the complex humanity of others.”
A portion of the Movieguide® review reads:
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is riveting and well stocked with intense jeopardy. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger. The dialogue is also magnificent as is the acting, the sets, the costumes, and the direction. Some flashbacks are sometimes disorienting, however. ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is an extremely exciting, morally affirming, heroic miniseries. It’s a powerful testimony of good triumphing over evil with strong Christian references, but it has some strong foul language and violence. MOVIEGUDIE® advises extreme caution.
Director Sean Levy opened up about how he tried to keep the movie as close to history and the book it was based on as possible.
“On everything I’ve ever directed, my first move is to surround myself with people who make me better,” Levy said. “In the case of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, that meant a team who educated me and gave me more fluency in history than I had going in. It also involved me watching hours of documentary footage and reviewing photography of that time, all of which showed me the scale of this war, these invasions, and assaults.”
Along with historical accuracy, the director cast Aria Mia Loberti, a vision-impared actress, to portray the main character who is blind.
“I wanted the representation of that world in that time to be authentic just as I wanted the representation of this protagonist who is blind to be authentic,” he said. “And that means including details that might surprise people…That’s the aspect of the show’s authenticity that I’m most proud of.”
Movieguide® previously reported on ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE’s message:
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE’s crew recently shared the creative process behind adapting the book, why they didn’t want to replace the source material and how the story speaks to world events today.
Levy also spoke about the importance of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE’s story, especially at this point in time.
“There’s times in history and in the present, whether it’s global events or personal tragedy, where you just feel kind of lost in darkness and hopeless in the midst of darkness,” Levy continued. “But this story is really about the belief that that light does exist, will exist again and that we need to protect that place inside of us even if the world is breaking our heart.”
Knight added, “There’s a great line in the book where the professor says, “Darkness can last a thousand years, and then you turn on a light, and it’s gone like that within a millionth of a second.’ You can’t switch on darkness. You can switch on light, and light always wins, and I think that is such a fundamental part of what the message of the book is and hopefully what the message of what we’ve made.”
