During the years from 1939 to 1945, an estimated 50-million lives were lost as war ravaged Europe, North Africa and Asia.
Burn's 14-hour, seven-part epic focuses not on sweeping statistics, but on four American communities--Mobile, AL; Sacramento, CA; Waterbury, CT; and Luverne, MN--to show how far away events affected hometown life. Burns' probing portraits of people whose lives are turned inside out and upside down, and his presentation of the moving moments of disrupted lives are an important reminder that war--whenever, wherever and for whatever reason it occurs--is always personal. If you don't catch The War when it airs on PBS, the series is available on DVD.
Photo: A Family Moment During WWII (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt © Time & Life Pictures)
Comments
I have been hearing some criticism of THE WAR based on exclusion of Chicanos’ story from the documentary. However, I have yet hear any response from Burns himself, nor PBS.
Of course as a documentarian you have to make decisions and since I have yet to see the film, I cannot comment. But if it is true that he did not include the Chicano story, I would love to hear why he chose not to. I cannot believe that an intelligent man like Ken Burn’s could have overlooked such a substantial part of the story of the war.
And if it was not an oversight, I am concerned with what alternatives that leaves.
Ken Burns has become synonymous with first-class documentaries and his films are celebrated nationwide. I hope that he is still willing to fill those shoes by delivering a documentary that honors history for all.