Ken Burns is known for making history come to life. Burns, a documentary filmmaker and historian best know for “The Civil War” (1990), is acclaimed for not only rehashing old information in a completely different way but presenting little known and even new information about the subject. “Baseball” (1994) and “Jazz” (2001), his other recognizable pieces, have similar appeal. His latest project, depicting World War II, is called “The War.”
If you went to crappy public school like me, you know all about Pearl Harbor, the Blitzkrieg, Midway, D-Day, the turning points. This film goes deep into the nooks and crannies of WWII from the battlefront to the home front, which I found to be very informative.
The amazing part of this series is the veterans, some of which have never opened up before, telling their stories and Burns and his team finding the footage that corresponds with them. Much of it, both film and photo, is rare or never-been-seen, and a lot of it’s in color. This brings events that seemed to have taken place centuries ago and fast-forwards them closer to home. The stories and images connected to them can be very graphic. From photos of Holocaust victims to a man detailing his miraculous survival of The Bataan Death March, “The War” is not for the weak stomached.
Although the footage and stories are new, the information is not. Burns attempts to examine the conflict in Europe and the South Pacific through the eyes of four “quintessentially American towns”: Luverne, Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Mobile, Alabama; and Waterbury, Connecticut. Putting a human face on the war was a different angle to take, as opposed to the traditional, detached droning about tactic and strategy, but it had a very “meanwhile, back in Alabama” feel, not exactly what he was aiming for.
Burns’ fascination in the people that shaped the war, “The great generation or the greatest generation?,” wears on my nerves. The first of this seven part series, entitled “A Necessary War,” is interrupted for a montage of soldiers kicking ass and taking names with a sentimental “Oh America, you’re just swell” song dubbed over it. Burns’ nostalgia for the heroes we are indebted to, although very much merited, can be a bit excessive.
Probably the biggest criticism of “The War” is Burns’ neglect of Hispanic, Native American or women’s involvement on the battlefield. The deletion of Hispanics, making up almost half a million soldiers, has put him in hot water before.
The first segment of “The War” aired on Sept. 23 on PBS and the proceeding three premiered in that week. The final three debuted Sept. 30 –– Oct. 2. Each is two to two and a half hours long. If getting drilled in the head with “America! Fuck yeah! / Coming again to save the motherfucking day yeah!”, hearing some amazing stories and getting immersed in sixteen hours of old but good history is your thing, then “The War” should be of interest.
