During World War II as the British Isles held out against the Nazi onslaught, only the tiny Channel Islands, undefended and near the French coast, fell to the invader. “Enemy at the Door” is a 13-episode British television dramatization (out now on DVD) about life on one of those islands during the occupation.
With the unhurried pace of a soap opera (but with an intelligent script), “Enemy at the Door” closely examines how islanders and invaders coped with each other. Except for the SS commander, the German officers wanted to establish a civilized tone; the local officials were left with orders from London to carry on. It was an uncomfortable relationship. Most islanders didn’t want to collaborate yet had to cooperate with the Germans to maintain a tolerable standard of life.
Problems arrive soon enough: a civilian is killed trying to escape from the island, the librarian is arrested trying to block the seizure of banned books, cars are confiscated, nerves are frayed, the war drags on. The story’s moral is sensible to consider in times of extreme duress: stay cool and don’t lose touch with your values. The strength of “Enemy at the Door” is in its depiction of a variety of everyday people faced with extraordinary circumstances.
