The three-part thriller -- set in 2030, when every third German is older than 60 -- opens with an embittered pensioner who kidnaps the head of a health company that has stolen money from retirees by promising them a sunny existence in a retirement resort that it never delivers.

Just as the is about to get the company's head to confess to the ploy, which earned the backing of the German government, an explosion kills both the hostage and hostage taker, who was armed only with a toy gun.

Reporter Lena Bach, played by Bettina Zimmermann, investigates the kidnapper's motives and uncovers the "Commandos of the Angrily Old," as well as plans to "dispose" of the elderly in African camps and watches as her interview partners disappear.

Bringing the numbers to life

"In a classic documentary there would be columns of numbers, graphics and expert statements," said ZDF's editor-in-chief, Nikolaus Brender. "But we wanted to put some life in the numbers and present viewers with what is coming for our society when a stop is not put to this negative trend."

The series has been hailed as a success by German mass-market daily Bild, which called the docu-thriller an "outcry" and "the most impressive television series of the year because it, unfortunately, could become true."

While praising the broadcaster for making Germany's demographic debate more appetizing with the help of a conspiracy plot and healthy dose of science fiction, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung criticized the film for taking into account changes in the elderly population but presenting younger generations exactly as they are today. "(The youth) will be different," the daily wrote. "The unification of family and work will be among the key questions for companies since in the next decade women will be desperately needed at the workplace." The paper added that an "evolutionary, not revolutionary" process is more likely to take place in German society.

But die tageszeitung questions whether the division of retirees who are forced to rob pharmacies for drugs that aren't covered by meager insurance polices while others live in luxurious health center penthouses is actually a realistic vision of the future. "'The Uprising of the Elderly' is a success as a movie; it's exciting, entertaining and brings to mind science fiction classics like 'Solvent Green' with shocking twists," the paper wrote. "But ZDF wants more. The film should 'enlighten,' 'awaken' and 'show what is waiting for us,' but it doesn't do that as the film's political dimensions range from polemic to flat."

Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that ZDF's decision to portray the series as a documentary instead of a film is an attempt to prove the producers' view of the future is true. "The really curious part is then at the end the documentary has become less believable than the movie could have been," the paper wrote.