[Buffy]

You folks outside the US will have to wait, but....

Anyone else here watching Ken Burns new documentary on World War II, "The War?"

Just sat through the first episode (twice! in HD!), and its the usual amazing Ken Burns.

I am still absorbing it, and will have to watch more than a few times, just like his other documentaries.

Powerful stuff,
Buffy

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Buffy

You folks outside the US will have to wait, but....

Anyone else here watching Ken Burns new documentary on World War II, "The War?"
...
Powerful stuff,
Buffy

I missed the first episode but have watched 3 now. Next episode is Sunday night on PBS stations. Nice to see some B&W for a change and I enjoy seeing the old things. In last night's episode I think I recognized an Army nurse in one of the photos; she served on a hospital ship in the South Pacific. While the overall production value is good, I noticed they reuse a fair amount of footage.

Good enough stuff,
Turtle

[Michaelangelica]

Looks like it has just come out on DVD 23/09/07
"The War" (2007)

Old Soldiers Never LieKen Burns' The War tells great stories, but is it great history?
By Beverly Gage
Posted Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, at 3:53 PM ET

Click here for more from the Fall TV issue.
Ken Burns' The War. Click image to expand.The War

In the final moments of The War, the new miniseries by Ken Burns, the camera gazes out over a country horizon at sunset. Lilting in the background are the soft chords of a solo piano, accompanied by the murmur of crickets. Then, the husky voice of pop stylist Norah Jones eases in. "For those who think they have nothing to share," she sings as the faces of World War II veterans and their families begin to flash across the screen, "Who feel there are no heroes there …" After some two minutes of plaintive photographs, the film closes with Jones in a last patriotic refrain. "America, America," she sobs, "I gave my best for you."

This is fantastically sentimental stuff—filmmaker Ken Burns

Ken Burns' The War reviewed. - By Beverly Gage - Slate Magazine

Mother Jones: This film is really about the war from a purely American perspective.

KB: It's even more limited. It isn't America—it is just four towns.

"The Worst War Ever"
Images
"The War" Photos


I am facinated by this period in history. We are still feeling its effects. But I am not interested in another "How the USA Won the War Movie". Although this sounds like Lieken Burns has tried to see it from an almost personal viewpoint.
An especially moving review is here:-
Bob Cesca: America Used To Be Really Goddamn Awesome - Politics on The Huffington Post

I've been captivated by Ken Burns' The War this week and it struck me how awesome America used to be.
. . .
We've fallen so far from what we used to be, even as recently as thirty years ago when the comparatively liberal president Richard Nixon opened a dialogue with Red China, whilst Mao supplied arms to North Vietnam. One day long ago, it was okay to wish for an end to a war, without being accused of hating the soldiers who were fighting it. It was once a given that socialized public education, police, fire departments, roads, parks, national defense and the constitutionally mandated General Welfare & Domestic Tranquility were simply a part of the American way of life and would always be there.

And when our nation had to go to war, we would be there for her.

Conversely, when we crumble to the pressure of our reactionary and authoritarian elements, we get Japanese internment camps, the rise of the military industrial complex, and men turned away from service due to the color of their skin. Some of our greatest failures have been conceived when our irrationality, fear and lust for power overrule our traditional American ideals -- even during our finest hours as a nation.

And now, 50 years later, in our lives and times, we get President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney.

The Bush Years have been a monumental, cataclysmic failure on most fronts due to its inattention to what has, historically, made American great.
The president and his thinning ranks of fawn-eyed Hannities don't understand this yet.
They don't understand it mostly because they're too ignorant -- blinded by sloganeering -- to the very basic reality that Bush Republican style government, in practice, is about as successful and practical as a paper condom. It always has been.

etc... Very sad; Australia is the same. We have Bonsai in power (Little Bush=Howard)

I am especially interested in the intelligence wars during WW2 and how it created institutions like the CIA etc
An especially good book on this is A Man Called Intrepid (Paperback)
by William Stevenson (Author)

A fascinating look into the start of the British Secret Service
After reading this it changes your whole approach to war history.
Without Bletchley Park and the secret service I doubt if the Allies would have won the war.
An Australian broke the Japanese secret codes, an Englishman (Turing) broke the German;(and invented the computer in the process).
The USA's use of the Navajo language encoded for messages was inspired.
It never was broken. Who thought that one up?

Amazon.com: A Man Called Intrepid: Books: William...
Amazon.com: A Man Called Intrepid: Books: William...

You can buy a used Stevenson Book for peanuts from Amazon.

Strangely/Ironically I'm just waiting now for a British show to start on TV called "Foyle's War" about a police detective solving crimes during WW2.
Great if you love British Detective stories & history

[InfiniteNow]

Here is a link to the PBS Extended Preview (27 min). This is a wonderful special. The soldiers are all but completely gone, and many have opened up stories from the vaults of their memories for the first time knowing that they may not get another opportunity to share. There is color footage so it seems more real and less "story-book," and the archives were really explored for this footage.

Watch the preview, and if you get the chance, watch the show. We need to remember what our grandparents sacrificed for.

YouTube - PBS PREVIEWS: THE WAR | Extended...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEItXS35g8o

[Racoon]

The first episode was interesting, but also a rehash of basically what everybody knows..

There was the guy who was shot accidentally in the dark woods, and everyone wanted him to quit moaning and die so the other soldiers could get some sleep .., only to find out the next mornin it was dudes best friend.

3rd episode of Omaha beach was tough to watch.
Good thing the naval ships took the risk to move up and shell the German pill boxes
How come the French don't like the Americans like they did then?

Good to great documentary!
Typical Ken Burns style.. vintage film and photographs interspersed with survivor recounts.
To encompass the whole war would make it endless, but focusing on 4 American towns made it manageable...

[Tormod]

I'm going to have to catch up on this series! I loved the Band of Brothers series but documentary is also interesting.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

Watch the preview, and if you get the chance, watch the show.
We need to remember what our grandparents sacrificed for.

Yes we do. Well said.
All the things that current Governments are screwing up
Freedom. Democracy, Free speech, Rule of Law, Habeas Corpus etc
Lingua Franca - 3*March*2007* - Julian Burnside on habeas corpus

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Racoon

The first episode was interesting, but also a rehash of basically what everybody knows..

I don't think so: every generation has to relearn it: my kid knows little to nothing about WWII, and this is an eyeopener for her.

Originally Posted by Racoon

To encompass the whole war would make it endless, but focusing on 4 American towns made it manageable...

I agree with this completely. So much of what has been done in the past depersonalizes it so much that you miss a huge chunk of what it was all about. While I agree with Rac that its got "rehash," the real breakthrough in this thing is getting across what it was like for individuals and families and communities. The historical accounts will be very familiar to people who have studied the war, although there are bits that have been really swept under the carpet, many covered in last night's episode, appropriately titled FUBAR.

Also agree its classic Ken Burns: if you don't like his style, don't watch it....

Every plan is good until the first shot is fired,
Buffy

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Buffy

I don't think so: every generation has to relearn it: my kid knows little to nothing about WWII, and this is an eyeopener for her.

Every plan is good until the first shot is fired,
Buffy

I took my eldest daughter with a group of her friends to see Schindler's List when they were about 16. We were late and ended up in the front row of a packed theater. I took them all because they were talking crap about WW2 not being so bad.
They were shattered by the movie. Mostly by the fate of the little girl. This sub-plot made it far more personal and real for them than mass killings.

Schindler's List: Special Edition (1993)
Schindler's List is an historical film, about historical events. That history is not only expansive and international, it's also intensely personal for a

Thomas Keneally is a highly respected Australian writer.
I don't think the movie won an Oscar. It should have. I don't know what The Academy has against Steven Spielberg. I always enjoy his films; ET is my favorite.

I loved also La Vita è bella (1997) (aka Life Is Beautiful)

Italian film star Roberto Benigni's life-affirming comedy/drama is a wonderful confluence of mixed emotions, an audacious, heartbreaking essay in shocking

. Some of the funniest and also horrifying scenes of WW2.
It is very personal. It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film

Every plan is good until the first shot is fired,
Buffy

I love the Quote; reminds me of the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. (Taught these days in psychology courses to illustrate "Groupthink")

[Cedars]

I havent watched the show but its already on dvd at Blockbuster if someone who missed a part wants to rent it.