The War - Ken Burns Series on PBS

[sethypooh21]

A negative review.

[Blarg]

Read it and the comments, interesting. The last comment I saw was noting Tom Hanks blabbing on and on.

Immediately I pictured what other celebrities they might have, and I couldn't shake a picture of Whoopie Goldberg emoting it up and educating us on the war. I miss the days or narration by either people who know something or just have a good voice and stay completely invisible. Nowadays you see all sorts of out of place celebrities in documentaries. To me that definitely includes Tom Hanks, neither a vet nor a scholar nor journalist. Being a movie star in a flick about WW2 lends him zero credibility and gravitas and I'd just as soon see Whoopie Goldberg.

[KilgoreTrout]

Some valid points in that critique. It could not have been more obvious that the Raiders' piece was stuffed in there to appease the hispanic detractors. That was a fine piece, btw.

I still don't think this critique hits on just what is wrong with the series. The narrative style almost approximates that of Civil War, but the hodgepodge of issues is no where near as coherent as that series. This is more of an impressionistic overview of the American experience of WWII, not necessarily about WWII.

Perhaps Burns expects his viewers to know the chronology, the constituents, the dynamics, the technology, and all the subtexts. Maybe he just bit off more than he can chew.

Tonight's episode supposedly focuses on Monte Cassino - the origin of the term cluster [censored]. It took 50,000 allied lives and four major offensives to take the 50 miles of territory surrounding Cassino, and the destruction of a 6th century monastery constructed by St. Benedict. Entire brigades of Polish and Indian troops were decimated, but we won't hear about that. We'll hear about Babe sitting in his watery foxhole and Anzio instead.

[KilgoreTrout]

Last night's episode was a bit better, I thought. It touched on the shortcomings of Clark, who basically was a WWI strategist. The race riots also were touched upon. The timeline seemed to flow more smoothly.

Overall I'm still disappointed. The attempt at emotional face slapping over Babe's death was ridiculous. His brother failed to grasp the cynicism of Babe's letters home. Babe was a Pfc. He was writing what his superiors told him to write. They were instructed to write about the weather, chow, and family, and little more. Their letters were censored.

Tonight's episode covers the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of Saipan.

[BPA234]

I think tonight was better than the prior nights. Overall, the series as a whole is OK at best.

Leaving out the details regarding Walter Ehlers actions is horrible.

http://www.homeofheroes.com/brotherhood/ehlers.html

And, to leave out Pointe Du Hoc is ridiculous.


http://www.worldwar2history.info/D-D...te-Du-Hoc.html

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Overall I'm still disappointed. The attempt at emotional face slapping over Babe's death was ridiculous. His brother failed to grasp the cynicism of Babe's letters home. Babe was a Pfc. He was writing what his superiors told him to write. They were instructed to write about the weather, chow, and family, and little more. Their letters were censored.


[/ QUOTE ]

Babe's letters may have been censored (or written following military rules regarding not giving away details, etc.) but I didn't see them as being filled with cynicism. His tone seemed to be that of a son who didn't want to worry his family. To me that's natural and not the least bit cynical.

~ Rick

[jzpiano]

I Tivo'd them thus far and finally got to watch the first one today. Overall I wasn't to impressed. The first episode was WAY to long and I'm a history major. I think 60-90 min would have been good. I'll keep watching though and report back on my thoughts on the rest of it.

[John Cole]

Second Fussell. His The Great War and Modern Memory is terrific (and his Poetic Meter and Poetic Form is indispensible).

[rhymenocerus]

Ken Burns went to my High School, also Iggy Pop, and Bob Segar........so balla

[boscoe1]

Great series.