| | |  | Accessories | Home » » » The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick | | | | | | | Description: | | The War will be a seven - episode series, produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, that will examine the myriad ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America. By telling the stories of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns – Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and the tiny farming town of Luverne, Minnesota – the series will portray this enormous worldwide catastrophe on an intimate, human scale. The War will intertwine vivid eyewitness accounts of the harrowing realities of life on the front lines with reminiscences of Americans who never left their home towns, and who tried their best to carry on with the business of daily life while their fathers and brothers and sons were overseas. The film will honor and celebrate the bravery, endurance, and sacrifice, of the generation of Americans who lived through what will always be known simply as The War. | | | Product Details: | | | Director:
| Ken Burns | | Format:
| Anamorphic, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 6 | | Studio:
| PBS | | Run Time:
| 900 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| October 02, 2007 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 356 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 356 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
144 of 148 found the following review helpful:
 The War Hits HomeSep 25, 2007
By BK
This series is not a comprehensive account of the Second World War - it was not meant to be. It is unabashedly Americentric - and a "Peoples History" of WWII. It does not chronicle every detail of American involvement in places like North Africa( for that, read Rick Atkinson's Pulitzer winner An Army at Dawn - 5 stars). There are no generals or politicians. It fails to chronicle the struggles of my in-laws during the Blitz or much of the suffering felt around the globe during this terrible period of our history. It is not the BBC's The World at War. Why remake The World at War? I was fortunate enough to attend the premier in Waterbury Connecticut, where Mr. Burns addressed all of these issues. The War tries to convey how this momentous period defined the lives in four American towns that could really be Anytown, USA. It tries to explain why my grandfather has never really been able to speak about his experiences and his refrain of, "I don't need to see the movie, I starred in the original." It also explains much about my grandmother and the world my parents grew up in. Some of the hundreds of veterans at the screening were watching with their families for the first time what they had spent half a century trying to forget and had never been able to talk about. The emotion in the Palace Theater by the end of the screening was almost overwhelming. Most of the men who fought this war are dead, and the rest soon will be. The documentary tries to capture what remains of their stories before it is too late. I doubt most of the men fighting over there were as overly concerned with a complete picture and full understanding of the war as they were staying alive and hoping to return home. Few documentaries have explored in great depth the homefront beyond the newsreels of Rosie the Riveter. This documentary is the story of everyday people that live in my neighborhood and yours, who perhaps didn't see "the complete picture," but this was the war through their eyes. We can show The World at War ad nausium to school children today, but if it has no emotional attachment, garners no empathy, they gain nothing. For this reason, I feel that Ken Burn's The War is a critical part of preserving local American history and well as the tragedy of WWII. My only real disappointment was that of the 2400 people in attendance for the premier in Waterbury, only a handful were under 25-30.
80 of 86 found the following review helpful:
Give the guy a break.Sep 25, 2007
By Axton Blessendon, Jr.
It sure would be nice if people would quit trying to project their own agendas onto this documentary. Ken Burns didn't set out to make the ultimate World War Two narrative; just because a bunch of people expected that he would, doesn't mean that his film is somehow lacking.
Burns did exactly what he said he was going to do: tell the American experience of World War Two from the point of view of everyday, average American citizens.
I'm sure that Burns and co-producer Lynn Novick would be the first to agree that viewers looking for more "big picture" information (about political alliances, military strategy, technological development, the war's global impact) would do well to supplement this series with other sources of information. Burns isn't telling those stories, and the omissions are on purpose. This film looks at the war from a different angle, adding a new layer of social history to the big stories that have already been told. I think people should judge this work on the merits of the goals that Burns set out for himself, and not simply project their own personal historical and political wishlists onto it. (Axton)
145 of 164 found the following review helpful:
FUBARSep 30, 2007
By Diane M. Crook
"Bookbuddy"
After watching the latest episode of "The War" - FUBAR...I now know why my father who served this county during WW II did not like Thanksgiving. All those years of never knowing, and to learn 20 years after his death why he felt the way he did. I'm sure that by the end of the series, I will understand why he felt the same about Christmas. Till the day he died, he refused to talk about being a Army medic in WW II. I have kept all the letters he and my mother wrote each other during this time. I've never been able to read these letters, but now feel it is time to do so.......My prayers and respect for all who served. For those still alive - God Bless.
87 of 100 found the following review helpful:
 Not a balanced view of the American military effortMay 16, 2008
By R. H. P.
I recommend this series to anyone who is a WWII buff like me. You will see images and movie coverage that you have never seen before. The Ken Burns team did an outstanding job of gathering material that is unique to this series.
However, I would have preferred a more balanced approach to the war. Almost every campaign covered is portrayed as thoroughly botched, costing countless American lives, due to our unconscionably negligent and inept generals. I really don't mind an anti-war theme, but when you view these episodes you wonder how we won the war. With the number of American snafu's prominent in this series, we must have been awfully lucky, or the German soldiers were led by generals that were even more incompetent than ours.
Also, Ken Burns seems to be obsessed with the race issue in the military, and its adverse impact on our war effort. This is certainly an important subject and must be covered, but there is obviously disproportionate emphasis/time devoted to this part of the series.
It would have been a more difficult task for Burns to accomplish, but if he had tackled the subject on a more global scale---he could have still dealt only with the American participation---it could have been a documentary of lasting value! However, he chose the easy way out by confining the details to a few American cities and the interviews of the same people over and over again.
In my opinion, the best film history of WWII is still the British series, "The World at War," narrated by Laurence Olivier.
27 of 29 found the following review helpful:
UniqueOct 06, 2007
By Lynn R. Fairbanks
I think people should see all seven parts before passing judgment. A recent review labeled THE WAR "garbage", indicating it was too "feminist". If this person had seen the episode entitled FUBAR and Burns' description of the Peleliu campaign, she would, I think, feel otherwise. Burns relied on the reminisces of E.B. Sledge whose WITH THE OLD BREED AT PELELIU AND OKINAWA is largely considered one of the finest memoirs to come out of the Pacific war, if not the entire war itself. The segment shows horrific footage of the savage fighting on the island and is anything but "girly", an extremely immature and poorly chosen term, especially for college student. In my estimation THE WAR is the most unique documentary yet on the conflict. Many have indicated a preferece for WORLD AT WAR, which was excellent in its own right, but Burns has given us a different perspective of l941-l945--a perspective that humanizes perhaps the most inhumane period in history.
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