First Impressions of "The War"
Well, I've seen the first three installments of Ken Burns' "The War" (Last night's is still on the DVR awaiting my eyes!) and I have to say I am impressed in a big way.
"The War" tells the story of the war mostly from the perspective of people from four US towns/cities. Sacramento CA, Waterbury CT, Mobile AL, and Luverne MN. As such, the entire thing carries a decided United States bias, so there's a lot of things that happened elsewhere which aren't even mentioned, or just mentioned in passing.
What you get is interviews with a handful of people from those places telling their stories. Some of them were in the service, some of them stuck it out at home, but their stories are all equally compelling, and moving. Some of it is kind of funny, but when you get to stories like the B-17 ball turret gunner talking about how his arm was nearly blown off and he's having to throw pellets of his frozen blood out of the turret, or the Ciarlo(?) family talking about when they received "the telegram" about their brother.... you can't help but be moved.
The other side of that is the use of stock photos and footage, mixed with a rather melancholy soundtrack, and also expertly mixed-in sound effects. So where that stock footage shot on 8mm or whatever may have been without sound before, they've tried their best to add that in, and unless you think about it, you're not going to notice it was never there to begin with. I was able to catch the first episode in HD and the added sound was particularly chilling in full digital 5.1. They've managed to restrain themselves in showing the particularly graphic stuff, but they've thrown in few photos of bodies that you should be on the lookout for if the kids are around.
Complaints? A couple. The first is the overwhelming "PC-ness" of the thing. Now I understand that there are stories that need to be told, but we seem to be spending a lot of time telling stories about the oppressed minorities back home, and the terribleness of the Japanese internment camps, and how women were left out to do their part back home, and ...well you see where I'm going with this. I'm not saying those aren't all valid points that need to be discussed, stories that need to be told, and lessons that need to be learned, but it just seems to me to be a lot of time devoted to it. People had it rough all around.
And was I correct in noticing that the Doolittle raid of April '42 went completely unmentioned? I will have to go back and watch the first episode again to make sure it wasn't just glossed over, but I don't recall any significant time spent on it. Seems to me that would have been an important event to spend a little time on. And also left out was any mention of the US volunteer air effort in China, i.e. the "Flying Tigers" boys. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly.
Well, like I said, I am mostly impressed so far. "The War" continues again this coming Sunday, for three more episodes.
Link: Ken Burns' "The War"
Technorati Tags: pbs, the war, world war ii 2, ken burns
"The War" tells the story of the war mostly from the perspective of people from four US towns/cities. Sacramento CA, Waterbury CT, Mobile AL, and Luverne MN. As such, the entire thing carries a decided United States bias, so there's a lot of things that happened elsewhere which aren't even mentioned, or just mentioned in passing.
What you get is interviews with a handful of people from those places telling their stories. Some of them were in the service, some of them stuck it out at home, but their stories are all equally compelling, and moving. Some of it is kind of funny, but when you get to stories like the B-17 ball turret gunner talking about how his arm was nearly blown off and he's having to throw pellets of his frozen blood out of the turret, or the Ciarlo(?) family talking about when they received "the telegram" about their brother.... you can't help but be moved.
The other side of that is the use of stock photos and footage, mixed with a rather melancholy soundtrack, and also expertly mixed-in sound effects. So where that stock footage shot on 8mm or whatever may have been without sound before, they've tried their best to add that in, and unless you think about it, you're not going to notice it was never there to begin with. I was able to catch the first episode in HD and the added sound was particularly chilling in full digital 5.1. They've managed to restrain themselves in showing the particularly graphic stuff, but they've thrown in few photos of bodies that you should be on the lookout for if the kids are around.
Complaints? A couple. The first is the overwhelming "PC-ness" of the thing. Now I understand that there are stories that need to be told, but we seem to be spending a lot of time telling stories about the oppressed minorities back home, and the terribleness of the Japanese internment camps, and how women were left out to do their part back home, and ...well you see where I'm going with this. I'm not saying those aren't all valid points that need to be discussed, stories that need to be told, and lessons that need to be learned, but it just seems to me to be a lot of time devoted to it. People had it rough all around.
And was I correct in noticing that the Doolittle raid of April '42 went completely unmentioned? I will have to go back and watch the first episode again to make sure it wasn't just glossed over, but I don't recall any significant time spent on it. Seems to me that would have been an important event to spend a little time on. And also left out was any mention of the US volunteer air effort in China, i.e. the "Flying Tigers" boys. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly.
Well, like I said, I am mostly impressed so far. "The War" continues again this coming Sunday, for three more episodes.
Link: Ken Burns' "The War"
Technorati Tags: pbs, the war, world war ii 2, ken burns
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The War (2007)
There have been a ton of World War II documentaries made over the last, what, 62 years? Some range from absurd, but still interesting (like the SS/Occult stuff) to pure masterpieces such as Ken Burns' The War.The focus in this series of seven episod
There have been a ton of World War II documentaries made over the last, what, 62 years? Some range from absurd, but still interesting (like the SS/Occult stuff) to pure masterpieces such as Ken Burns' The War.The focus in this series of seven episod
Weblog: War Movie Reviews and News
Tracked: Oct 04, 12:53
Tracked: Oct 04, 12:53
Me, I'm going to wait for the DVDs of *The War*. I do like the title, though. For anyone alive in those years, world history is divided into three epochs: Before the War - The War - and After The War. So Ken Burns got that right.
Blue skies! -- Dan Ford