The War (the documentary film by Ken Burns)

It’s 50 minutes into the first episode. So far so good, but right off the bat I can’t stand two things:

The narrator, Keith David. I hate this guy’s voice, though KB must love him because he uses him all the time. He gets all the intonations wrong, IMO.

The music, by Wynton Marsalis. It’s supposed to evoke the sound of the era without actually being the tunes of the time. Sorry, it just ain’t doing it for me.

My wife said the NYT gave it bad review, so I decided to un-record it. But I forgot, so now I’ll probably watch it.

It is a little slow, closer to the Civil War than Baseball or Jazz. I am enjoying the program so far and I am fine with the narrating and music.

Jim

If that’s the worst of it, I can live with it. I like slow expansion. Beethoven
took his own sweet time, much to my everlasting delight.

How many parts will this documentary have? It’s a moving show so far.

6 episodes I think but IDMB listing is a little nuts: The War (TV Mini Series 2007) - Episode list - IMDb

Thank you, that was fast!

Seven episodes. And I don’t really see anything nuts about that. (Ironically, the episode that has no title listed entitled “Fubar.”)

That was Wynton Marsalis? Damn. No wonder it sounded off to me-- I just figured they had come across a bad Benny Goodman recording…
I liked it, overall. You can tell the “Latino” portion was added on-but that’s ok.

What I am wondering is if there is any portion dedicated to the nurses and women who served.

My nine year old son was watching with me–he started to say things about the Japanese. Then the bit came on about the internment camps. Needless to say, we had a lot to discuss about the nature of fear, prejudice and war.
I like the pace. And I’ve already learned some things I didn’t know.

At least they didn’t cover White Christmas.

I counted one Yankee Patrol so far. If I watch all the episodes, I’ll let you know the entire tally. Can’t have a WWII doc without Yankee Patrol

I can’t help wondering if KB had been politley waiting for Stephen Ambrose to die before making this doc, so as not to offend him by omitting his contribution, which would have turned it into yet another Stephen Ambrose PBS history lesson for little boys and girls.

And this isn’t slow - for slow look at KB’s docs from the early 80’s, when he’d let the camera sit on a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge or something, with no narration as the clock ticks away while we’re expected to let whatever heavy message he’s just delivered sink in.

Oh really?

I think she meant “cover” as in someone besides Bing Crosby singing it. He did have a gorgeous voice, didn’t he?

Pffft. Haters.

10 out of 10. Fantastic documentary so far.

Yes, I did. IMO, that song belongs only to him–no one else can sing it as well. I love his voice.

I am looking forward to the rest of the series. My teens are taking International Studies and European History, so both of them are interested in this. My husband is interested from the military perspective as well–we seem to be gathering 'round the TV this week. It’s nice.

I didn’t notice the music (except for “White Christmas.”) That’s unusual for me and probably what is the desired effect.

My husband was three days old when Pearl Harbor was bombed. My first memory was of V-J Day.

I look at the fresh young faces in the photos and I think about a man I know who is in a nursing home. He was in the Pacific. He has no family left at all. Everyone has gone. It breaks my heart.

It’s going to be hard for me to watch this without thinking of a lot of people I have loved.

Mods I screwed up. This post belongs in another thread (about contact eye glasses). Instead of bothering to switch it, please delete it.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Off topic but…

I was a Corpsman stationed at GTMO (which is how we spelled it) in the 50’s.

Oftentimes some Cubans who worked on the base had to get glasses—probably safety glasses. Free, of course.

The problem was they thought the stronger the lens the better. So, they’d fake the standard eye exam, to get lenses with much greater magnification, as opposed to getting lenses that were truly right for them.

So they had to learn the hard way: Fake the exam, suffer the results and then come back, take the test honestly and get glasses that didn’t give 'em headaches.

I wish programs like this and the other series KB has made were around when I was in jr high/high school. History isn’t just names and dates in a book, they’re made real.

There’s a series on the history of WV that’s in the same vein as these but I don’t think KB was involved in it. It’s a very good look at the history of the state, but the ending was kinda hurried b/c the producers ran out of money.

Dangit, I missed tonight!!

I like it so far. The detailed attention to a few stories is something I find really appealing, and it’s fairly well done so far.

Keith David’s voice just slips into the background too easily for me. I have a hard time actually paying attention to it.

Just about everyone else interviewed was easier to listen to than him.

And Tom Hanks as well. I didn’t realize he was that good of a voice actor.

Apparently some PBS affiliates, while having no problem showing a documentary with war footage showing mens’ heads being blown off, had problems with the acronym “FUBAR”, because, well, one of the initials stands for a ‘naughty word’. Thus, the ‘untitled’ episode. :rolleyes:

I’m having mixed reactions to it. I’ve been interested in WWII nearly all my life, and so far they’re not telling me anything that I didn’t already know.

I confess that an hour into the program I switched over to the hour-long “Family Guy” episode, then switched back to PBS for the ending. I hadn’t planned to do that, but up to that point the documentary wasn’t really gripping me the way “The Civil War” was able to do.

The narrative seems to jump all over the place in both time and space, and I’m having a little problem with that. Key facts are omitted - for example, during the battle of Midway the narrative mentions that nearly all the US torpedo bombers were shot down while attacking the Japanese carriers, but the dive bombers were able destroy the carriers. It isn’t mentioned that the sacrifice of the torpedo bombers (by pulling the Japanese fighters down to sea level) is what enabled the dive bombers to get through.

I thought perhaps a little more background on the origins of the war were in order. Also the progress of the war before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was only lightly touched on. I realize that the documentary is supposed to be covering the American war experience, but still…

Also, I’m watching this on the PBS hi-def channel here, and the voices seem to be slightly out of sync with the mouths during the ‘face time’ shots. It’s starting to annoy the hell out of me.

The tacked-on section on the Hispanic soldiers, while interesting on its own merits, was jarringly placed in the episode and clearly a late addition. PC gone amok, frankly.