The World at War

I have always wanted this collection but never was motivated to plop down $100+ for it until I broke my arm. My mother and temporary caretaker could not find anything we could agree on to watch. Now, war documentary is the last thing my mom would watch if not tied down with a gun pointed to her head, but I convinced her that when I saw this on TV in the seventies, Jimmy Stewart was on this show all the time talking about his squadron leader experiences, she said, "OK, let's watch it." And indeed, Col. Stewart is one of the interviewees credited. Problem is, we watched 2 2-sided DVD's before seeing Mr. Stewart's very fine, but brief, explanation of the reason for strategic bombing and its effectiveness. And off he went to shoot the "Shootist" or fly to the "Airport 77" set or whatever. HE NEVER IS SHOWN AGAIN. I guess I was so impressed at the age of 12 simply by the fact that an actor who was already a star would risk everything to go and fight in this war that I remembered him being in every real.N'importe! as our sometime ally would say. There is no star in World at War. Unless it is the documentarist, Jeremy Isaacs, or the crowds of civilians in film from Leningrad, Dresden, London, etc., as they wake up to death and devestation, rebuilding and reshoring themselves instead of allowing themselves to feel defeated.Today WAW is difficult to watch because we are used to the Ken Burns style of using acting and sound effects to bring the protaganists "alive". Any guest interviewees are expected to keep within the dramatic framework. In WAW, what we get is newsreel-type film and a bunch of talking heads, not chosen for their acting ability (although the aforementioned Col. Stewart might be there for a Hollywood draw). So it takes some patience to listen to. But it is well worth it. If you want to know anything about World War II, you want to hear Mitsuo Fuchido talk about the details before and after the Pearl Harbor attack. You want to hear Albert Speer tell of how, from the inside, the rotting of the great Third Reich became obvious to all within, even as the Allies were closing in. You want to hear Mrs. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's first nauseating understanding, from a fellow market customer in Berlin, of where the "resettlers" were really being taken in the crowded freight trains they saw daily. Perhaps it was she who told her husband, the great theologian, eventually hung for attempting to kill the Fuehrer.Then there is John Kenneth Gilbraith, Kay Summersby (Ike's secretary and possibly a leetle bit more), and oh. Ladies. You haven't lived until you've seen Stephen Ambrose with a ponytail.But the most poignant talking head...and she who seems to remember the most detail of the key personage of the war...is Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary during the last 2 years of his life. Given her appearance in 1973, she could not have been more than 17 at the time. And since of course there are no newsreels to complement her story, she tells it all. And very well.WAW was long, but it was written as a season-long television series. In some ways, it's better viewed piece by piece, if only because of the more disturbing reports. It is said that if citizens could see what was going on in World War II as it happened, it would have ended sooner. I don't know if it would have ended sooner (sometimes the best way of ending a war is winning it); but WAW brought WWII in our living rooms in the same way Vietnam had come into our living rooms in the 70's, providing a chance for a great deal of debate that had been absent in discussions hence about that conflict.

Jeremy Issacs has won all sorts of recognition for this series, and all the plaudits are well deserved. This is by far the most compelling work on World War Two and is well worth adding to your collection. Sir Laurence Olivier's narration coupled with archival footage and crude (remember it's the 1970's) but effective graphics make this a great primer on the most destructive war in history.While the overall series is excellent, some notable highlights include:* The opening three minutes of episode one, an incredible piece of filmmaking.* 'France Falls' does an excellent job of showing how France was beaten long before the first shot was fired.* 'Banzai: Japan Strikes' does an exceptioanlly good job of explaining why Japan took increasingly agressive action in Asisa throughout the 30s. Plus offers excellent insight into what Japan hoped to accomplsih with its attack on Pearl Harbor.* 'Stalingrad' captures the brutality of the most brutal battle of WWII* 'Whirlwind' explains how military leaders struggled to understand the application of an entirely new way of war, strategic bombing.* 'Nemisis' brilliantly catalogues the final days of the Thousand Year Reich.Some puzzling weaknesses are:* The overall British point of view. Issacs produced this for an English television audience. I believe if Issacs knew beforehand the worldwide audience he would eventually reach, he would have made a more balanced series giving the Americans more due.* The episode 'It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow: Burma'. There is no reason to devote a whole episode to a side-show of the war.* Overall sketchy coverage of the Pacific war. Burma gets a full hour, but the battle of Midway gets 10 minutes. Guadalcanal gets less than that.* 'Wolfpack' tries to explain submarine warfare, but once again leaves out action in the Pacific where submarines played an even bigger part than in the Atlantic.I've watched these episodes multiple times. Even with some of the weaknesses, it's always compelling veiwing. A true monumnet to documentary filmaking!