Six years in the making, directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have released their fifteen-hour documentary film The War, now running both on PBS and available on DVD. This incredible series looks at the Second World War not only from the perspective of front line soldiers, but also how the war affected their loved ones back home as well as other people simply caught up in the aftermath. Burns chose four American towns-Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota, and interviewed more than forty men and women about the impact the war had on their lives.
Really, the only way to explain this DVD is to strongly encourage you to watch it. Whether you are older like me and grew up hearing your parents tell stories about what life was like during WWII, or whether you are younger and only know what you have read in history books at school, nothing can prepare you for what you will see on this DVD series. Burns and Novick found archived footage that is nothing short of amazing to see; for example, episode 1 starts in December 1941, when Sid Phillips and Willie Rushton of Mobile, Ray Leopold of Waterbury and Walter Thompson and Burnett Miller of Sacramento enter the armed forces and begin to train for war. How Burns found footage specifically of those four men going through their Army physicals and reporting for duty is beyond me.
I knew that Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent from West Coast towns inland to internment camps, but I didn’t know that on the East Coast, German U-boats attacked Allied shipping just offshore, sinking hundreds of ships and sending millions of tons of material to the bottom of the sea. The War covers the time period starting Decemer 1941, and ends in September 1945, a month after America dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan, in Nagasaki.
One thing that American history books gloss over, at least the ones I was educated from, is just how brutal the campaigns fought in World War II were. Invasions meant to last four days went on for months under the most desperate of conditions, with the soldiers running out of food and supplies, yet under the command of overzealous Generals with orders they had to follow. At the dinner table last night, I talked with the boys about the War Effort, about how people suddenly found themselves unable to get sugar, or butter, or gasoline, or nylon stockings, and how the entire country mobilized together to support the troops and provide them what they needed. Can you imagine if we had financed the Iraq War not by going into trillions of dollars in debt, but by being asked to cut back on our own resources instead? I promise that this DVD series will give you enough dinner table conversation to last for weeks.
And now, some technical details-the restoration work on the archived footage is stunning. If you’ve ever seen the old scratchy black and white footage shot during that time period, you will hardly recognize it here. You will think you are watching a brand new black and white movie, I swear. Segments are narrated by voices you will recognize-Tom Hanks, Alan Arkin, and Samuel L. Jackson, lending a rich quality to the narration. The DVD also includes a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, and two commentaries (this was my husband’s only complaint, that there were only two commentaries for the entire seven episodes). Running time is 900 minutes, so plan accordingly. The disc isn’t rated, and there are certainly scenes that might be disturbing to younger children, but we had no problem letting Ryan watch a few minutes here and there. I especially think that homeschooling parents with older children will find this a valuable resource to go along with history lessons.
Amazon.com has the box set for $78.99. I received the set free in exchange for this review, and I am very grateful and appreciative. I’m so glad to own this unique look at World War II from the perspective of people who lived through it, who experienced it whether as soldiers or at home. Even if war itself doesn’t interest you, this series will impact your feelings about war in ways you couldn’t imagine.
This is the episode list from the series:
EPISODE ONE: “A Necessary War†December 1941-December 1942
EPISODE TWO: “When Things Get Tough†January 1943-December 1943
EPISODE THREE: “A Deadly Calling†November 1943-June 1944
EPISODE FOUR: “Pride of Our Nation†June 1944-August 1944
EPISODE FIVE: “FUBAR†September 1944-December 1944
EPISODE SIX: “The Ghost Front†December 1944-March 1945
EPISODE SEVEN: “A World Without War†March 1945-September 1945
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Sounds interesting. I think my dad would like it.