Chihiro and I just finished up a very long documentary on World War II called "The War" by Ken Burns. It was produced in 2007, and ran on a number of PBS stations.
It's going to take you a while to get through these DVDs for sure, but it is SO well worth it.
Burns tells the story of World War II through the eyes of people directly affected by it, the soldiers, their families, their friends, and townspeople who knew the soldiers. The focus is on people affected by this great conflict living in four U.S. cities; Waterbury, CT, Mobile, AB, Luverne, MN, and Sacramento, CA. Each city has its own unique history of contributing to the war effort during 1939 to 1945.
There is a fair amount of graphic violence (mostly in the way of photographs), but Burns displays these photos with tact, and chooses them carefully to tell the story of how horrible war really is. I'm not sure I would want someone under 12 or 13 watching it without an adult to supervise and answer questions. It is both heart wrenching and elating the stories told in this film. Some are so unbelievable you'd swear Hollywood got to them first. Most of the soldiers interviewed lose best friends in battle, a number lose hope altogether during those battles, and all who survived the brutal conflicts still have to live with the vivid memories of those years.
These stories and the people involved should be known to all, and never be forgotten.
In this day where the U.S. is still involved in international conflicts, the story of World War II as told by Ken Burns has many lessons for our future and current world leaders, as well as you and I who give the power to these leaders to make the choice to go to war.
I hope we never have to repeat what happened between 1939 and 1945, but in small ways it appears that we have: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, the Sudan. People still fight, and fight savagely.
This movie really affected both Chihiro and I.
I hope it will affect you too.
Please share your comments if you have seen or plan to see this documentary.
Chihiro and I would love to hear them.
3 comments:
welcome back to the blog world!!! haven't seen that documentary but i'll be sure to add it to the list of must see dvd's :)
Oh man! You should check out the Ken Burns Civil War documentary, too, if you haven't already. Totally amazing. Hey, we both have blogs!
-Sav
Thanks, Savastio! Will do. Funny you mention that because Chihiro got that series for me for Christmas last year and we just unpacked it a few weeks ago after our move. Definitely on the 'to-do' list. Thanks for finding me out here in Blogo-Cyber-Land. Will reciprocate and get over to your food blog to see what smells so good ;)
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