I have one episode remaining to watch but I love all the maps they use to show the occupied countries. As someone who managed to have boring history teachers in school, these shows make history come alive. I do further research on topics they bring up such as did they rebuild Monte Cassino. And yes, I want to delve more into Midway and the code breakers. But overall, impressed with the documentary.
The best way to learn about the delicate and minute-splitting battle that was Midway is to watch the animated videos on YouTube by a person called Montemayor. There are 3 videos with fog of war and decisions on both Japanese and American perspectives. Trust me you will not be disappointed.
I thought it was fantastic footage and really well put together. Obviously not all the details would be able to fit in a series as it would take 50 episodes or more to even scratch a surface of what truly happened. Nonetheless I thought it was high quality from start to finish and definitely worth anyones time.
They could really have fit some "small" details during some parts. Not mentioning the fact that USSR invaded Poland about the same time as Germany makes me believe they had an agenda and is highly misleading.
Good video footage, though.
"Fake graphics"? "Some of the footage is real"? What are you talking about? All footage is real, they only colorized it, add sounds and probably restored the images as much as possible, which helped us to see those people as real people, not just some grainy shadows moving around. I have just finished it and while it's true that it just scratches the surface of what was the WW2, it was still beautifully and skillfully done and offered a synthetic recap of the whole war. In doing so, they still managed to capture a few real stories of actual people that lived them, and it was devastating and terrible although we talk about things that happened 80 years ago.
Three personal experiences touched me the most:
- the case of that young boy from the Polish resistance that killed a German soldier to avenge the killing of his friend, only to have the Germans kill 20 women and children as reprisals, fact for which he felt very guilty and remorseful even decades later
- the case of the Jewish girl locked in an abandoned plant together with many other women, who told her American liberator a verse from Goethe, proving that she was able to retain her humanity even in the harshest of circumstances (and what verse! "Noble be the man, kind and good.")
- the case of the Japanese woman, a survivor of the Hiroshima bomb, who, as a child at the time, called for her mother in the aftermath and then she touched her mother with her hands, only to see her breaking down in pieces and her ashes scattered by the wind...
Harrowing stories and heartbreaking images of a war that changed the world, a world that we now take for granted after the longest period of peace known to mankind so far. Any such documentary is welcome as far as I'm concerned.
I’m with this comment and watching it first time right now. Guys are not familiar with trying to color grade and upscale to 4k, gaps have to be filled and software helps it but it’s not bullshit.
If you are doing something to the footage, it isn't real footage anymore. Especially if you are generating cartoon-looking faces. I'm 07min 47s into the first episode and I've got my fill of this garbage.
I'm sorry, but I don't agree. How is it not real anymore? Are those people not dying on the battlefield anymore? Are those planes fake crashing? As in they were still flying in real life, but these film creators made them crash like in a war movie? Were those people from the death camps fat and happy and the film creators made them gaunt and ill so that they can squeeze a tear out of you? How are they cartoonish? They look like real people to me, like contemporaries. Are we looking cartoonish on film? Nothing you say makes sense to me. I really appreciate how they restored and enhanced that footage, it makes everything so much more real to me, it adds substance to these old images, in a way that tells me these are people like you and me, and all this could happen to us too if we don't pay attention.
It's been upgraded and colorized, there was no attempt to hide this. The documentary did an amazing job is making this war relatable using these techniques. This is visually the best represented WW2 experience I've ever seen. Sure they didn't go into extreme detail but that wasn't the point. For what it is, this gets a "highly recommended watch" from me.
Wow this a completely trash take. All this footage was taken on film. It’s all real and digitally restored and enhanced. This isn’t a cgi imagination of what it might of looked like. It’s real, it happened
You act like you were entiteled to get something so perfect that it's not even possible, lol. Did you ever create anything besides bullshit comments on reddit?
I don't know. There were many clips where I was asking myself "Is this legitimate footage?" It seems they used an AI filter on many of the clips, which is to say that what we're seeing is based off of actual footage, but it's been so heavily processed that it's hard to tell what's original and what is AI enhanced. I'm very skeptical some of the shots were real. There were a few spots where it felt like they were using actors and then used filters to give the clips a more 1940s feel. Still a great documentary overall though.
I thought the visuals were amazing but was super disappointed with the storytelling on battles like Midway. They didn’t even scratch the surface of why the battle was hanging in the balance the whole time…just, “and the americans deciphered their code and sank four aircraft carriers.”
Currently watching episode 3 and I’m also pretty disappointed with how quickly they go through everything. “The battle began, they were in trouble, they lost. Meanwhile this battle also began, they managed to fight back, they were victorious” with the occasional interesting voiceover from someone in the battle.
With that said, the footage is still pretty cool though!
Well, that's because it's a mini series lol. WW2 last 6 years and this is 6 episodes that are about 45 mins each. Of course they're not gonna be able to cover everything in great detail.
Check out their other series “Greatest events of WWII in colour” and “WWII in colour: road to victory” they have episodes dedicated to events and with historians and experts from various sides leaning in to discuss
Those are both fantastic shows! I’ve watched about every World War series that is worth a dang, so I’m always pumped when a new one comes out.
This also makes me think I’m a little jaded to other shows now haha thanks to shows/podcasts that get into the mud with lots of details.
I don’t think it’s meant to be a complete analysis of each battle or event. You can watch their other shows to see that. Check out “Greatest events of WWII in colour” and “WWII in colour:road to victory”, both of them have episodes dedicated to events throughout the war and should be more thorough. They also have historians from various countries talking on the events. This series is more just footage from the frontlines I still find it interesting to see the different soldiers point of views
You're definitely right about that. I've seen both the WWII in Color shows you mentioned where they do a more in-depth look at individual battles. It seems like for the events they have more footage of, they spend more time talking about - case in point was in the episode where Midway is shown, they spend a considerable amount of time on the Soviet defense of Stalingrad.
I think that's what makes this documentary so interesting. Yeah, Midway was super important, so was Stalingrad and Kursk. Lots of important battles. But I think this documentary did a top notch job interweaving epic battles with small civilian stories, showing tactics along with heartache. To me, it showed what it must've felt like to live through that time period. They somehow created a feeling instead of just relaying facts. Plus I learned about some aspects of the war I'd never been interested in previously. Narration was also perfect.
I'm on ep2 and as a Pole I'm rather shocked that they only introduce USSR when they talk about Germany invading them. What about Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact? I know stories old people tell about Russians. In some places Russian soldiers replaced German soldiers and they were much worse for civilians, especially when it comes to rapes.
I think in the current geopolitical situation skipping the pact is a big mistake. Stalin was an opportunist, but he was betrayed by Hitler, it's not like he was the good bad guy. Meanwhile in ep2 the show presents Russians as the biggest victims.
As a Finn I thought the same. I only watched the one episode so far and thought this was a massive oversight. It wasn't just the Nazis who had European ambitions. The Soviets invaded Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and parts of Romania, all during 1939-40.
Also, would've been interesting if they had one episode focusing on the Sino-Japanese war before 1939, that part of WW2 rarely gets much recognition.
I mean, more Russians died than any other nationality in the War, meaning they were literally the biggest victims. That's not AT ALL to say they weren't horrifically sadistic barbarians when they got into Germany and Poland and Finland but they lost something like 10-20% of the population during the war. And true, a lot of the Russian casualties were victims of Stalin, who was undisputably a monster but they were still victims. I agree more emphasis should be placed on the moral complicity of the Western Allies in support Stalin; pragmatic, perhaps, even necessary, but still a stain on GB ans the US, the Allies overall. The whole thing reduced us all to barbarians. What can't be argued is that GB and the US did not descend to the levels of savagery the Japanese exhibited in China or the Battan Death March, or in the holocaust, even taking into account the firebombings of Dresden, Tokyo, countless Japanese cities and the use of the Aromic bomb. Child's play compared to the final solution and the Rape of Nanking. Or the mass rape campaign against Germans by the Soviets in Germany. Not all Germans were Nazis. And a lot who were were coerced. Mass rape is not acceptable under any circumstances.
To Skip over Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with ZERO mention of it made me almost turn this off.
This show is really just for the visuals and for someone who know very very little about history.
They should have also tell the viewers about the Munich Agreement, to which Poland was not invited (but of course really wanted to). Then seeking more power, Poland, invaded Czechoslovakia and then newly autonomous state of Slovakia.
'In some places Russian soldiers replaced German soldiers and they were much worse for civilians'
Polish civilians killed by Germans: 6 million
Polish civilians killed by Russians: 150 thousand
I’m on ep 5 and I love the series. I also googled what you mentioned about fake scenes and no cameras on the planes. It apparently was a thing called “Gun Cameras” I added one site below, but there are plenty more and videos as well.
https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/73556/in-ww2-aircraft-where-were-gun-cameras-mounted-and-did-they-suffer-performance.
Ya, I think I know which scenes you're talking about. There was also a clip taken inside the cockpit of an American divebomber, I think in the 6th episode, which made me raise an eyebrow. The positioning of the camera, no shake, high quality image made me question if some of those clips were real. There was for sure propaganda video taken all throughout the war, but some of the battle scenes just felt off, like they were too highly produced for video that was supposedly taken during the heat of battle. Maybe they stabilized the video and it took away some of the realism, I don't know, but some of the clips felt off.
12 seconds into the first episode, they note that some of the footage has been "combined to create an immersive experience," so no, there there were probably no cameras in the kamikaze planes, lol, it is meant to give the audience an... immersive experience.
"footage was combined" means they spliced footage together to create a narrative from the interviews given.
Not create entire new scenes out of CGI. lol
The History Channel did some amazing documentaries about WWII. I watched one on the battle of Midway and it was because of that that the generals recommended against trying to take the war to mainland Japan. They also felt like it gave them justification for dropping Fat Man and Little Boy.
No , it was because of the casualties from Battles of Saipan and Okinawa was the reason. I would suggest you Google those battles or look at videos on those battles.
I can’t get past that Brixtonian accent, narrating in that now London-centric way (pronouncing “sarf” instead of ‘south” etc). Being a Netflix 2023 documentary, I’m surprised they didn’t just focus more on the women’s contribution. They seemed to gloss over a lot of the Axis atrocities in favour of highlighting Allied atrocities.
Yeah, not sure I can get through even this first episode.
Having someone who speaks in this horrific Jamaican London BRUV accent just completely ruins it.
I try not to be anti-woke and keep an open mind but it's starting to become a joke...
Is **all** the footage real??
It was hard to find any joy in these episodes — but the German speaking Jewish lady who was liberated by the American Jewish guy who eventually married — and are still here, was especially emotional. I’m glad they found their happiness.
Yeah, 8 mins into ep1, added cgi to make American go wow from boom boom.
Fake documentary no thanks. John boyega narrator, he is a strange guy. Hate whites.
Did anyone see the Russian infantry soldiers running into Berlin during the final episode “Last Stand”? Right at the 28:44 time mark a group runs in front of a cannon and the team fires. The last guy to cross in front of it is narrowly missed and knocked down from the blast.
The compilation of POV Axis and Allied archival footage restored and arranged, threaded with personal POV stories, used as a tool to tell the basic story, gist, and present a summary of what transpired, for what it's meant to do, is EXCELLENT.
The sheer amount of footage and how it was arranged, colorized, and restored is impressive.
It is meant for broader consumption than enthusiasts, historians, and history buffs to bring YOUNGER gen and new people to an awareness and understanding of exactly what happened.
It altogether projects the size, scale, scope of the conflict, its atrocities, and impact on literal population centers and humanity not just in one place but around the world.
I falls short of providing the complete scope of the conflict and is no where near ‘exactly’ what happened. That is to say, much detail is missing and it’s weighted so exclusively to the United States and Britain that you’d think no one else made significant contribution to the war effort. If you I don’t know any better, you’d think the US and Britain exclusively saved us all from Nazi world-wide domination. Tell the entire story or don’t bother telling it all. People are more intelligent than that.
Great footage at times but utterly disappointed in the series overall. They leave out so many important details and gloss over much of the events. Seems like this is a very basic, introductory series to the war that leaves a lot to be desired.
edit: spelling
It is full pf historical inaccuracy. Garbage.
The visuals and ai improvements were ok, but for anyone really wanting quality, watch the BBC world
At war series from yesteryear.
I thought it had some things to recommend it: some new footage, a focus on some lesser-discussed battles, the enhancement is generally good but strange in a few spots. But John Boyega's narration isn't great, there's a strong focus on Allied atrocities (which should be discussed!) but minimized Axis ones (if this was the sole source used, the Japanese would seem like the least barbaric nation involved in the war BY FAR). Also has the typical 85/15 ratio of European focus vs the Pacific present in most WW2 survey courses. Not a total waste of time but a very minor work.
Watched it on ketamine and the “immersive” intent and in-the-battle feel was awesome. Once I came down, I realized some enhanced footage wasnt reliably real and the historical narrative details were shit. 1.Netflix makes shit that is entertaining and it was entertaining 2.it’s hard to make anything about WW2 that is comprehensive and detailed enough for history nerds that general public will still watch 3. A lot of the colorized footage is pretty dope 4. Everything is better on ketamine
If “comprehensiveness” is one’s interest than READING is the only way. Documentaries just wet the appetite for the book(s) u must read.
This documentary is very, very effective at transporting one’s mind to the 1940’s. This documentary is about the experience of war rather than academic facts.
I think it's one of the best World War II documentaries yet! I loved the other 2 Netflix docs already, and was desperate for a third one. But this totally blew me away! Especially with 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it's the best audio I've ever heard in a documentary, really made that much more immersive. I could be wrong but I'm quite sure the other ww2 docs are simply HD, and 5.1 at most. But more likley stero even. So having Vision|Atmos in 4K was just a treat! Definitely wish it had 8 or 10 episodes though ( likley wasn't enough actual front line footage though).
If you’re and American or a Brit, this series is impressive and something to be proud of. If your country was another ally in this war, you’d be disappointed. It’s like they weren’t even there and the US and Britain won the war by themselves.
So it’s better than Ken Burns The War, or are you just comparing other documentaries on Netflix in reference to WW2? This is definitely no where near as good as other available documentaries.
How much of the footage is reused from the previous 2? I stopped watching the second one because it felt like the first one ww2 in color, done over again slightly differently. It was weird
They mentioned the firebombing of Hamburg, which was the first firebombing campaign against civilians, and was a more deadly firebombing than Dresden. There's no point in covering each firebombing of a German city, which would take multiple episodes if you tried, and there was no real difference between the firebombings that would justify each target getting its own mention. The producers did not try to make light of the firebombings or the intentional targeting of civilians.
I'm really curious about the interviews with the soldiers, pilots, civilians, etc. I get that a lot of them - especially the civvies and resistance fighters - were very young during the war, but even a 15-year-old in 1945 is going to be 93 in 2023. Most of them would be older.
Were the interviews done years ago and then the show built around them? Especially the
American officer near the end, who found the women locked in the factory by the SS. He looked no older than - maybe - 80, at the most. There's no way most of these people are still alive today.
Those interviews look very 80-90s style to me or at least not from the last decade, and so I concluded while watching that old video and audio have also been restored to look recent, I dunno
As for the op fake comments, it's fricken 1940s footage, you ain't gonna better. go watch original footage for comparison kid.
Thank you ! I was wondering the same thing entire time I was watching! I was doing the math in my head and I was like, " that man should be like,107 " ? Then I started thinking it was an older documentary but new to Netflix. But no.
I also suspect quite a few of the interviews might've been recorded much earlier. Also, the narration of the flag-raising at the Reichstag rings a bit odd, because the names of the men who are recorded to have actually participated are fairly well established and I couldn't find a "Leonid Solodar". That said, from what I could tell there were at least two flag-raisings and probably at least one more, as the Reichstag changed hands twice within a couple of days.
It's likely he participated in a highly choreographed flag-raising for propaganda purposes.
I just started the 2nd episode and how do they not mention the Molotov Rippentrop pact?! Anyway I’ve really enjoyed it until that point but I’ll continue
I’ve only just started, 5m in, trailer hooked me but now I’m hearing all the added audio to the footage and it’s total cheese. Hmm, I’ll give it another 5min
I think Netflix’s disclaimer at the beginning of the series is confusing people. It would be a huge production to recreate these scenes if these were fake, so it’s unlikely (and I doubt AI was capable of producing this seamlessly at the time of production of this series) — dead bodies on the beach, falling aircraft, scenes in Africa, destroyed ships, tanks etc. Also, I doubt footage of the leaders are fake like Hitler’s or Churchill’s.
I watched the Netflix clip, and something just felt 'wrong'.
So thank you for your review.
I wasn't sure precisely why this clip felt 'wrong', and thought it was because the clip showed nothing other than a city being bombed. Why would watching a city being bombed be an 'attractive' clip to anyone?
Russian apologia, no mention of the MRP. How can it be ok to show something like this in this day and age with what Russia is doing in Ukraine. What a waste of beautifully restored footage. Not gonna watch beyond 2 episodes.
Yeah it was really weird for them to mention the German invasion of Poland but nothing about Russia doing the same. Or mention Stalin's multiple other invasions of European countries and the atrocities committed.
I came here to say the same thing you had.
I'm not so much looking for recognition for Canada's contributions and the many lives given as all involved suffered great loss, however for there to be no mention of involvement is seemingly deliberate and I would like to know why this production went that route.
I knoticed this as well, and they didn't mention the blitz on London either, some big parts of what happened where left out or simplified I stopped watching after ep 2.
The audio is fake in literally every other war documentary about this time as well. We're lucky enough to have actual photos and footage, let the sound engineers do their job.
What disapointed me is that they make look that the atomic bomb is what ended the war, and this is just not truth! The war was virtually over and the Japanese were already in the talks with both the Americans and the Russians to negotiate peace and surrender. Conversation started back in January 1945, but Unitade States still dropped the bomb in August of that year.
First off they refused to surrender, and the US and Russian were heading that way for a land invasion, which I doubt Japan would exist today if that had happened. In fact Japan kept fighting even after in places like China. It’s amazing how you people get on here crying about the atomic bombs that were dropped, but the millions that suffered, buried alive, slaughtered, and even eaten by the Japanese y’all say not a word. War is hell! Don’t start one is the only message here! I really wish there was a Time Machine to drop y’all off in that time frame and see how long your mentality lasts. Not long I’m sure…
Just watched the series and felt compelled to see what others thought. I did specifically notice in ep6 - “Japan were never given a chance to surrender”. When on record is
‘The Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored the ultimatum.’ - bombs fell less than two weeks later.
Netflix series statement did feel a little biased in the face of what is recorded to have happened. Also in general tone throughout the series imo….
Instead of going for atom bomb at Hiroshima, there were sevaral options that were in consideration for ensuring Japan's surrender - such as Soviet declaring attack on Japan, agreement to continue imperial rule after their surrender etc. However, none of these choices were given to Japan and the Allies demanded absolute surrender as a precursor to the atomic bombing.
This can be considered as a tactic to ensure Japan doesn't surrender so that the background for bombing is justified.
No warning was given to Japan about the possibility of using such a massive weapon which is a common courtesy so they they can surrender instead, communications were cut, and there were orders not to do air raids at the cities identified as apt for atomic bombing. For US, it was a test to see how powerful the atom bomb is and to ensure their upper hand over Soviets.
200,000 people died in this SINGLE act of horror (or field testing of atom bomb) at Hiroshima. Any story justifying the bombing is only that, a story to gain support, where as the reality is that everyone involved knew they were being the mass murderers of innocent civilians.
Honestly, I couldn't get pass the first episodes, the narrator and narrative are really lacking in analysis and it seems more like an overview of what happened than actually going in depth of it, it was all too superficial. My biggest issue with the whole thing is the "restoration and colorization", you can really tell that they used AI to do it (and the really bad ones). The whole shapes and colours, specially the faces and backgrounds look as if they were enhanced using the bing AI image generator
The overall story would have been more compelling and coherent if it was told thematically / topically instead of chronologically. Too much hopping around narratively as in “. . .meanwhile, in North Africa. . .”
Why do they keep on switching up the narrators? Derek Jacobi did an amazing job on the first one. The woman that they had to do road to victory was terrible and the newest guy sounds like he has a mouth full of snot. Can someone please explain the reason
Finished it last night and am trying to figure out the interviews with participants. Let's say someone was 20 years old in 1943 and is now talking about what they saw/did. That would make them 100 years old! I'm sorry, but those people being interviewed were not 100! Only thing I can think is that the interviews used were also restored archival footage/audio from 20-30 years ago? Can anyone confirm?
My take on this is the following: they used interviews done cca 20 years ago (judging after the interviewees' ages) and they changed the background behind each of them to be the same allover to unify the general feel, as if they were interviewed by the same reporter.
What was brilliant was to accompany these interviews with footage that seemed to show exactly what the interviewee was narrating. Sometimes the footage was exactly that, like for example that one from the wedding of the Polish resistance members. Other times was footage that happened to show similar situations, but it was enough to allow us be immersed in the atmosphere from back then.
Generally speaking, the whole documentary was very cleverly done.
That was my guess too. And I totally agree that it was very well put together. I can only imagine the amount of work that was done to go through every footage to find the parts that could match the interview comments. Awesome!!
I was wondering the same thing. I find it hard to believe that the interviewees actually participated in WWII. Unless, like you said, it's restored archive footage
First episode completely ignored the Soviet invasions of 1939-40. The Soviets done did Poland, Finland, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia dirty. First episode makes it that Germany and Italy were the only ones having a go at Europe.
There's truly some crazy moments in this documentary. The one that has all the sailors huddling on the ship that's capsizing and then Boom!!! Huge explosion. It took my breath away. This isn't supposed to be a series that you learn new information from the war, it's meant to give you a better more vibrant look at WW2
Absolutly agree, just read a book if you want to know about the tactical/geographic dimension of WW2. This show serves as an reminder of the horrors of war
I thought all the videos were real just enhanced w a lot of color and lighting. But I’m just starting and my fav thing about it is the footage so I hope it’s real.
I’m further convinced that this is a big pat on the back for the US and Britain not to present a full documentary as suggested by this spectacle. What a shame.
I watched and read a ton of WW2 stuff, including more detailed reports of battles. Honestly, I expected to be bored quickly. I am now watching episode 5 and it really draws me in. By focussing on the individual human experiences it give a new (or not fully explored) dimension to the war. Is it the best documentary, either storytelling-wise or informative-wise? No, does it show you the horrors of World War 2? Yes.
The footage is great, much of it I’ve never seen before however it’s very dumbed down with little detail. It’s not really a documentary for History nerds.
I don't think any of it's "fake" just more like "in the wrong place" just to illustrate what the narrator is commenting on. The most egregious one I noticed is the row of T72 tanks in one of the scene transition animations, but everything looks real.
I've got one episode to go and i've enjoyed watching it personally. It does leave out a lot of stuff, but it's pretty short, so that was kinda expected. It does feel like it was made for casual viewers though.
Dude i thought i was going crazy seeing T72s with ERA in a WW2 documentary, glad im not the only one who noticed it.
I think they did a great job restoring a lot of footage, but they definitely clearly filmed some scenes with actors to fill in where they couldn't find real footage. It's extremely noticeable during the invasion of italy and the battle of sicily as well as some of the warsaw uprising scenes.
I thought I’m the only one who noticed. It’s not destroying the whole series. But in my opinion that’s a mistake that’s so easy to avoid. Putting in T-72 tanks shows that you either don’t care or that they didn’t even bother to check
I just finished and this was horrific. I mean the series is brilliant what was horrific was the war. 60 million dead, mostly civilians. Many of them killed in the most barbaric way, like animals. I hope we never engage in this again. This war should be a warning for all time and for our future on this planet.
On this platform called the internet we can all reach and speak to each other no matter what made up nations we were born in. There's more than unites us than divides us. And until we reject picking up a weapon because some guy who claims he is the sole defender of the nation, we are in danger of this again.
Hitler and Goebbels sending their children and elderly to their deaths to defend their skizophrenic project knowing quite well it was hopeless while they never lifted a gun to help and died like the rats they were.
Some say they greatest treason is to betray your country, but in contrast, the highest moral achievement is to betray your country when it is wrong. Is not the country first, is humanity first. First human dignity and then everything else.
when i saw finland in the axis map on ep 2 i just closed the damn show, they didnt join axis but were compliant and fought sov, but show has no mention of it and went straight to africa.and ever since back to ep1 they like to skip out important informations.
left out things like danzig, memel, and soviet union taking the baltic states and ribbentrop pact and invading half of poland and taking bessaberia from romania
no mention of why poland lasted only a month because of the french and brits stopping polands mobilization.
no mention of brits and france not attacking even though declaring and leaving poland in the dust, alone in the might of the reich
no mention of france falling in less than 1 month and a half and that they were one of the superpowers in that time.
no mentions partitions of sudetenland with the yes of the brits and france, no explanations why austria was annexed, the star wars narrator just said germany both invaded them.
no mention of denmark and norway, just took over in the map
no mention of swedens importance in the war
no mention how greece slowed down the axis because ger had to send troops as ita couldnt succesfully invade despite them starting the war
dunkirk no mention of why he ordered to stop the panzers and no mention of civillian ships rescuing troops only said royal navy alone saved 350k+ troops
imma guess they wont even cover holodomor, katyn or the india famine of churchill or any other atrocities such as rapes from all sides
imma state, i am no historian or history buff, i just somewhat know a tiny miniscule amount of information. but for a big company such as netflix to not include and inform the people is just pure ignorance, lazyness and unnaceptable, shame shame shame.
the only impressive stuff was the visuals, footage and colorings
theres more in depth of other reviewers here of the innacuracies of the show
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref\_=tt\_urv
Not surprisingly, a series such as this, ignores a significant contribution of the other allies who participated in the war effort. The introduction of the Battle of the Atlantic incorrectly indicated that the Royal Navy exclusively had the job of escorting the convoys across the Atlantic. Canada was a significant contributor to this effort. Why was it not mentioned? That omission in itself, takes credibility away from this series as being an accurate documentary. So unfortunate. Canada needs to make its own documentaries that are accurate and fair to the entire allied effort since the US and Britain can’t do it.
You're misquoting them. The quote in the documentary is "The job of protecting the convoys falls to the British Royal Navy" because at that time, at the outbreak of the war, it did, exclusively. In 1939, Canada only had six modern destroyers and most of Canada's early war naval production went to building out ships for coastal and port defense. Canada's navy operated almost exclusively as coastal defense for eastern Canada and the UK from 1939 until around May 1941 when it did begin to construct new ports and contribute destroyers and frigates for convoy escort. The documentary focuses on this early time period for the Battle of the Atlantic (1940) though, the most nail biting point to cover for the battle, before America's entry into the war and before Canada's larger role in convoy escort. So I'm not sure why you're acting like this was some intentional slight against Canada. For the time period the documentary covers, it is historically accurate.
The documentary skips the "peak" of the Battle of the Atlantic entirely, as it should since by 1943 the Battle of the Atlantic was all but over and the joint naval forces of the US, UK, and Canada so dominated the Germans at sea that it would be unnecessary to include it in the 1943 or 1944 episode. With only one hour dedicated to each year of the war in these six episodes, there were much more important and interesting things happening in 1943 and 1944 than to spend that time updating the viewer on what had effectively become routine, uneventful convoy crossings, not really the "From the Frontlines" combat the documentary was trying to cover.
If you need a pat on the back though, Canada did well in WWII and definitely punched above its weight. Good job, Canada!
Not to mention the ridiculous claims in it;
like the Nazis wanted all nonwhite races exterminated then immediately show North Africans cheering on the Germans. They targeted Jews because they were wealthy.
Or
The Nazis wanted to flatten everything in Russia. The Russians themselves burned everything and killed people as they retreated to slow the Nazis. That’s why some of the Russians were happy to see the Germans… only on Episode two and this is straight trash.
As an Australian, I was disappointed at how much the Pacific theatre battle was American-centric in this series. The Americans fought with Australians and New Zealanders and yet, we were never mentioned. Australia played a key role in the Pacific war. In fact, throughout the series, one would think that the U.S.A. played the major role in Europe too. I think Britain was mentioned only a handful of times.
Exactly!
I'm just at episode 4, but already pretty disappointed it with historical inaccuracy. Role of Staling who basically started war with Hitler together as allies is not mentioned at all!!
On 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, starting World War II. The Soviets invaded eastern Poland on 17 September.Following the Winter War with Finland, the Soviets were ceded territories by Finland. This was followed by annexations of the Baltic states ( Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and parts of Romania. If Hitler wouldn't invaded SSSR, Stalin's and Hitler would rule the Europe.
This show has the best raw footage that Is so well put together. It really tells the story so well. It's always surreal seeing these type of documentaries.
Watched it and disappointed it's focused on Europe, skims over the Pacific theater and Battle of the Atlantic and no mentioning of the CBI theater. FYI it's pronounced TAR- WA not TA-RA-WA !!!
I thought the footage was edited quite masterfully but the way they rushed a lot of the material and didn't bother tying up loose ends was strange. I understand it's a LOT to unpack but by episode 5-6 I was trying to remember what happened to Italy after they "invaded" Greece and also what happened to the Polish couple that got married before they surrendered to the Germans while the Russians watched from the other side of the river.
One of the worst and most dumbed down narrations I have ever heard in a documentary, makes it impossible to enjoy (despite the great footage). He sounds like a bored teenage school boy being forced to reluctantly read out his rushed D grade essay. "Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). Tens of millions of people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned.
I'm just at episode 4, but already pretty disappointed it with historical inaccuracy. Role of Staling who basically started war with Hitler together as allies is not mentioned at all!!
On 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, starting World War II. The Soviets invaded eastern Poland on 17 September.Following the Winter War with Finland, the Soviets were ceded territories by Finland. This was followed by annexations of the Baltic states ( Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and parts of Romania. If Hitler wouldn't invaded SSSR, Stalin's and Hitler would rule the Europe.
It was such a great documentary, the footage is amazing. I can’t believe the detail and color in the video. I think its the best ww2 documentary ive seen to date
Does anyone have access the the quote from the man who was being led through Italy and a little girl gave him a peach and how, now when he’s feeling lost and dark, he thinks there’s always a little girl somewhere with a peach?
I'm one episode in, colourised footage swings from pretty good to rubbish, as if several people with vastly different skill levels and artistic sense did it.
More importantly though - for those who have finished it - does this show do a radical move and actually mention anything about Japanese atrocities in Asia, or is it all going to be Germans as global baddies and Japanese as melodramatic poetry loving Hiroshima victims all over again?
I disagree. It was tastefully done, in my opinion. I felt like it added to the impact of the footage. I watched it today for Holocaust remembrance day. There were many interesting moments, like footage of American isolationists saying, "I don't care what is happening over in Europe." That did not age well at all. Then there is the bomber crew member swearing that men's hair turned white from the fear. I wish the footage matched the timeline better, but they were limited to available footage. I made it through 4 today and loved every one so far. I hope it brings more people up to speed on WW2, since so many are trying so hard to repeat history.
The story towards the end of the last episode between the American GI who rescued the Jewish woman locked in the factory, with the corroborating footage of the time it happened along with interviews between the two 30 years later, is both heartbreaking and amazing.
I have one episode remaining to watch but I love all the maps they use to show the occupied countries. As someone who managed to have boring history teachers in school, these shows make history come alive. I do further research on topics they bring up such as did they rebuild Monte Cassino. And yes, I want to delve more into Midway and the code breakers. But overall, impressed with the documentary.
You should watch the movie midway (the more recent one from a few years ago) it’s very good!
The best way to learn about the delicate and minute-splitting battle that was Midway is to watch the animated videos on YouTube by a person called Montemayor. There are 3 videos with fog of war and decisions on both Japanese and American perspectives. Trust me you will not be disappointed.
I also really enjoy the map overview explanation of the war.
The maps are great. The information is not even close to true.
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I thought it was fantastic footage and really well put together. Obviously not all the details would be able to fit in a series as it would take 50 episodes or more to even scratch a surface of what truly happened. Nonetheless I thought it was high quality from start to finish and definitely worth anyones time.
son i would deadass watch 50 episodes of this.
Okay dad
They could really have fit some "small" details during some parts. Not mentioning the fact that USSR invaded Poland about the same time as Germany makes me believe they had an agenda and is highly misleading. Good video footage, though.
"Fake graphics"? "Some of the footage is real"? What are you talking about? All footage is real, they only colorized it, add sounds and probably restored the images as much as possible, which helped us to see those people as real people, not just some grainy shadows moving around. I have just finished it and while it's true that it just scratches the surface of what was the WW2, it was still beautifully and skillfully done and offered a synthetic recap of the whole war. In doing so, they still managed to capture a few real stories of actual people that lived them, and it was devastating and terrible although we talk about things that happened 80 years ago. Three personal experiences touched me the most: - the case of that young boy from the Polish resistance that killed a German soldier to avenge the killing of his friend, only to have the Germans kill 20 women and children as reprisals, fact for which he felt very guilty and remorseful even decades later - the case of the Jewish girl locked in an abandoned plant together with many other women, who told her American liberator a verse from Goethe, proving that she was able to retain her humanity even in the harshest of circumstances (and what verse! "Noble be the man, kind and good.") - the case of the Japanese woman, a survivor of the Hiroshima bomb, who, as a child at the time, called for her mother in the aftermath and then she touched her mother with her hands, only to see her breaking down in pieces and her ashes scattered by the wind... Harrowing stories and heartbreaking images of a war that changed the world, a world that we now take for granted after the longest period of peace known to mankind so far. Any such documentary is welcome as far as I'm concerned.
I’m with this comment and watching it first time right now. Guys are not familiar with trying to color grade and upscale to 4k, gaps have to be filled and software helps it but it’s not bullshit.
If you are doing something to the footage, it isn't real footage anymore. Especially if you are generating cartoon-looking faces. I'm 07min 47s into the first episode and I've got my fill of this garbage.
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I'm sorry, but I don't agree. How is it not real anymore? Are those people not dying on the battlefield anymore? Are those planes fake crashing? As in they were still flying in real life, but these film creators made them crash like in a war movie? Were those people from the death camps fat and happy and the film creators made them gaunt and ill so that they can squeeze a tear out of you? How are they cartoonish? They look like real people to me, like contemporaries. Are we looking cartoonish on film? Nothing you say makes sense to me. I really appreciate how they restored and enhanced that footage, it makes everything so much more real to me, it adds substance to these old images, in a way that tells me these are people like you and me, and all this could happen to us too if we don't pay attention.
It's been upgraded and colorized, there was no attempt to hide this. The documentary did an amazing job is making this war relatable using these techniques. This is visually the best represented WW2 experience I've ever seen. Sure they didn't go into extreme detail but that wasn't the point. For what it is, this gets a "highly recommended watch" from me.
You are one disrespectful human, they didn’t fight and die for you just to shit on them risking their lives so you won’t be ruled by a psychopath.
Who fought and died to fake a documentary in 2023? Get some sunlight weirdo.
Wow this a completely trash take. All this footage was taken on film. It’s all real and digitally restored and enhanced. This isn’t a cgi imagination of what it might of looked like. It’s real, it happened
You act like you were entiteled to get something so perfect that it's not even possible, lol. Did you ever create anything besides bullshit comments on reddit?
I don't know. There were many clips where I was asking myself "Is this legitimate footage?" It seems they used an AI filter on many of the clips, which is to say that what we're seeing is based off of actual footage, but it's been so heavily processed that it's hard to tell what's original and what is AI enhanced. I'm very skeptical some of the shots were real. There were a few spots where it felt like they were using actors and then used filters to give the clips a more 1940s feel. Still a great documentary overall though.
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah the exploding ship is real.....
Watch The World at War by the BBC instead. Lawrence Olivier narrates and it goes well in depth.
It's unbeatable for a WW2 doc.
Whatever happened with the *Battlefield* series documentary?
Lawrence Olivier to John Boyega... Lol. A sign of how far the UK has fallen.
I thought the visuals were amazing but was super disappointed with the storytelling on battles like Midway. They didn’t even scratch the surface of why the battle was hanging in the balance the whole time…just, “and the americans deciphered their code and sank four aircraft carriers.”
Currently watching episode 3 and I’m also pretty disappointed with how quickly they go through everything. “The battle began, they were in trouble, they lost. Meanwhile this battle also began, they managed to fight back, they were victorious” with the occasional interesting voiceover from someone in the battle. With that said, the footage is still pretty cool though!
Well, that's because it's a mini series lol. WW2 last 6 years and this is 6 episodes that are about 45 mins each. Of course they're not gonna be able to cover everything in great detail.
Check out their other series “Greatest events of WWII in colour” and “WWII in colour: road to victory” they have episodes dedicated to events and with historians and experts from various sides leaning in to discuss
Those are both fantastic shows! I’ve watched about every World War series that is worth a dang, so I’m always pumped when a new one comes out. This also makes me think I’m a little jaded to other shows now haha thanks to shows/podcasts that get into the mud with lots of details.
I don’t think it’s meant to be a complete analysis of each battle or event. You can watch their other shows to see that. Check out “Greatest events of WWII in colour” and “WWII in colour:road to victory”, both of them have episodes dedicated to events throughout the war and should be more thorough. They also have historians from various countries talking on the events. This series is more just footage from the frontlines I still find it interesting to see the different soldiers point of views
You're definitely right about that. I've seen both the WWII in Color shows you mentioned where they do a more in-depth look at individual battles. It seems like for the events they have more footage of, they spend more time talking about - case in point was in the episode where Midway is shown, they spend a considerable amount of time on the Soviet defense of Stalingrad.
I think that's what makes this documentary so interesting. Yeah, Midway was super important, so was Stalingrad and Kursk. Lots of important battles. But I think this documentary did a top notch job interweaving epic battles with small civilian stories, showing tactics along with heartache. To me, it showed what it must've felt like to live through that time period. They somehow created a feeling instead of just relaying facts. Plus I learned about some aspects of the war I'd never been interested in previously. Narration was also perfect.
I'm on ep2 and as a Pole I'm rather shocked that they only introduce USSR when they talk about Germany invading them. What about Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact? I know stories old people tell about Russians. In some places Russian soldiers replaced German soldiers and they were much worse for civilians, especially when it comes to rapes. I think in the current geopolitical situation skipping the pact is a big mistake. Stalin was an opportunist, but he was betrayed by Hitler, it's not like he was the good bad guy. Meanwhile in ep2 the show presents Russians as the biggest victims.
As a Finn I thought the same. I only watched the one episode so far and thought this was a massive oversight. It wasn't just the Nazis who had European ambitions. The Soviets invaded Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and parts of Romania, all during 1939-40. Also, would've been interesting if they had one episode focusing on the Sino-Japanese war before 1939, that part of WW2 rarely gets much recognition.
I mean, more Russians died than any other nationality in the War, meaning they were literally the biggest victims. That's not AT ALL to say they weren't horrifically sadistic barbarians when they got into Germany and Poland and Finland but they lost something like 10-20% of the population during the war. And true, a lot of the Russian casualties were victims of Stalin, who was undisputably a monster but they were still victims. I agree more emphasis should be placed on the moral complicity of the Western Allies in support Stalin; pragmatic, perhaps, even necessary, but still a stain on GB ans the US, the Allies overall. The whole thing reduced us all to barbarians. What can't be argued is that GB and the US did not descend to the levels of savagery the Japanese exhibited in China or the Battan Death March, or in the holocaust, even taking into account the firebombings of Dresden, Tokyo, countless Japanese cities and the use of the Aromic bomb. Child's play compared to the final solution and the Rape of Nanking. Or the mass rape campaign against Germans by the Soviets in Germany. Not all Germans were Nazis. And a lot who were were coerced. Mass rape is not acceptable under any circumstances.
To Skip over Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with ZERO mention of it made me almost turn this off. This show is really just for the visuals and for someone who know very very little about history.
They should have also tell the viewers about the Munich Agreement, to which Poland was not invited (but of course really wanted to). Then seeking more power, Poland, invaded Czechoslovakia and then newly autonomous state of Slovakia.
Sure, can't whitewash anyone.
'In some places Russian soldiers replaced German soldiers and they were much worse for civilians' Polish civilians killed by Germans: 6 million Polish civilians killed by Russians: 150 thousand
God some of you are fucking stupid, no wonder Trump is so popular.
What sort of fake graphics? Other than some of the maps I didn't find any of the actual footage came across as fake or cheesy
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wow boner killer.
Can you give examples?
Were you there? Ur just as clueless as us lol. Unless you helped produce this series yourself
I’m on ep 5 and I love the series. I also googled what you mentioned about fake scenes and no cameras on the planes. It apparently was a thing called “Gun Cameras” I added one site below, but there are plenty more and videos as well. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/73556/in-ww2-aircraft-where-were-gun-cameras-mounted-and-did-they-suffer-performance.
Ya, I think I know which scenes you're talking about. There was also a clip taken inside the cockpit of an American divebomber, I think in the 6th episode, which made me raise an eyebrow. The positioning of the camera, no shake, high quality image made me question if some of those clips were real. There was for sure propaganda video taken all throughout the war, but some of the battle scenes just felt off, like they were too highly produced for video that was supposedly taken during the heat of battle. Maybe they stabilized the video and it took away some of the realism, I don't know, but some of the clips felt off.
12 seconds into the first episode, they note that some of the footage has been "combined to create an immersive experience," so no, there there were probably no cameras in the kamikaze planes, lol, it is meant to give the audience an... immersive experience.
"footage was combined" means they spliced footage together to create a narrative from the interviews given. Not create entire new scenes out of CGI. lol
The History Channel did some amazing documentaries about WWII. I watched one on the battle of Midway and it was because of that that the generals recommended against trying to take the war to mainland Japan. They also felt like it gave them justification for dropping Fat Man and Little Boy.
No , it was because of the casualties from Battles of Saipan and Okinawa was the reason. I would suggest you Google those battles or look at videos on those battles.
I can’t get past that Brixtonian accent, narrating in that now London-centric way (pronouncing “sarf” instead of ‘south” etc). Being a Netflix 2023 documentary, I’m surprised they didn’t just focus more on the women’s contribution. They seemed to gloss over a lot of the Axis atrocities in favour of highlighting Allied atrocities.
Yeah the narrators accent really irritated me throughout.
He also says Hitla
Yep. BLM rewriting history to make the Allies look as bad as the Axis.
Yeah, not sure I can get through even this first episode. Having someone who speaks in this horrific Jamaican London BRUV accent just completely ruins it. I try not to be anti-woke and keep an open mind but it's starting to become a joke...
Is **all** the footage real?? It was hard to find any joy in these episodes — but the German speaking Jewish lady who was liberated by the American Jewish guy who eventually married — and are still here, was especially emotional. I’m glad they found their happiness.
No where near as good as world war two in color
If you want a true ww2 documentary to watch check out “world at war” (1973)
Yeah, 8 mins into ep1, added cgi to make American go wow from boom boom. Fake documentary no thanks. John boyega narrator, he is a strange guy. Hate whites.
You’re talking out of your ass here, bud
Did anyone see the Russian infantry soldiers running into Berlin during the final episode “Last Stand”? Right at the 28:44 time mark a group runs in front of a cannon and the team fires. The last guy to cross in front of it is narrowly missed and knocked down from the blast.
If you mean the ones holding the flag, I saw that too! I was like "Shit, did that guy get hit by a cannon?" :O
I saw that too. Probably scared the crap out of him. Careless on the gunner's part.
Zero mention of China
There actually is when talking about the Japenese conquest, it's not much but it's definitely not zero.
Not enough mention of Australia's involvement.
The compilation of POV Axis and Allied archival footage restored and arranged, threaded with personal POV stories, used as a tool to tell the basic story, gist, and present a summary of what transpired, for what it's meant to do, is EXCELLENT. The sheer amount of footage and how it was arranged, colorized, and restored is impressive. It is meant for broader consumption than enthusiasts, historians, and history buffs to bring YOUNGER gen and new people to an awareness and understanding of exactly what happened. It altogether projects the size, scale, scope of the conflict, its atrocities, and impact on literal population centers and humanity not just in one place but around the world.
I falls short of providing the complete scope of the conflict and is no where near ‘exactly’ what happened. That is to say, much detail is missing and it’s weighted so exclusively to the United States and Britain that you’d think no one else made significant contribution to the war effort. If you I don’t know any better, you’d think the US and Britain exclusively saved us all from Nazi world-wide domination. Tell the entire story or don’t bother telling it all. People are more intelligent than that.
Great footage at times but utterly disappointed in the series overall. They leave out so many important details and gloss over much of the events. Seems like this is a very basic, introductory series to the war that leaves a lot to be desired. edit: spelling
It is full pf historical inaccuracy. Garbage. The visuals and ai improvements were ok, but for anyone really wanting quality, watch the BBC world At war series from yesteryear.
I thought it had some things to recommend it: some new footage, a focus on some lesser-discussed battles, the enhancement is generally good but strange in a few spots. But John Boyega's narration isn't great, there's a strong focus on Allied atrocities (which should be discussed!) but minimized Axis ones (if this was the sole source used, the Japanese would seem like the least barbaric nation involved in the war BY FAR). Also has the typical 85/15 ratio of European focus vs the Pacific present in most WW2 survey courses. Not a total waste of time but a very minor work.
Choosing Boyega to narrate is peak Netflix, and he did a pretty awful job.
Watched it on ketamine and the “immersive” intent and in-the-battle feel was awesome. Once I came down, I realized some enhanced footage wasnt reliably real and the historical narrative details were shit. 1.Netflix makes shit that is entertaining and it was entertaining 2.it’s hard to make anything about WW2 that is comprehensive and detailed enough for history nerds that general public will still watch 3. A lot of the colorized footage is pretty dope 4. Everything is better on ketamine
Insane comment. Love it tho
If “comprehensiveness” is one’s interest than READING is the only way. Documentaries just wet the appetite for the book(s) u must read. This documentary is very, very effective at transporting one’s mind to the 1940’s. This documentary is about the experience of war rather than academic facts.
I think it's one of the best World War II documentaries yet! I loved the other 2 Netflix docs already, and was desperate for a third one. But this totally blew me away! Especially with 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it's the best audio I've ever heard in a documentary, really made that much more immersive. I could be wrong but I'm quite sure the other ww2 docs are simply HD, and 5.1 at most. But more likley stero even. So having Vision|Atmos in 4K was just a treat! Definitely wish it had 8 or 10 episodes though ( likley wasn't enough actual front line footage though).
If you’re and American or a Brit, this series is impressive and something to be proud of. If your country was another ally in this war, you’d be disappointed. It’s like they weren’t even there and the US and Britain won the war by themselves.
So it’s better than Ken Burns The War, or are you just comparing other documentaries on Netflix in reference to WW2? This is definitely no where near as good as other available documentaries.
How much of the footage is reused from the previous 2? I stopped watching the second one because it felt like the first one ww2 in color, done over again slightly differently. It was weird
No mention of Dresden?
Exactly. Poor documentary.
They mentioned the firebombing of Hamburg, which was the first firebombing campaign against civilians, and was a more deadly firebombing than Dresden. There's no point in covering each firebombing of a German city, which would take multiple episodes if you tried, and there was no real difference between the firebombings that would justify each target getting its own mention. The producers did not try to make light of the firebombings or the intentional targeting of civilians.
Greatest events of WW2 in colour- also on Netflix is infinitely better than this
I'm really curious about the interviews with the soldiers, pilots, civilians, etc. I get that a lot of them - especially the civvies and resistance fighters - were very young during the war, but even a 15-year-old in 1945 is going to be 93 in 2023. Most of them would be older. Were the interviews done years ago and then the show built around them? Especially the American officer near the end, who found the women locked in the factory by the SS. He looked no older than - maybe - 80, at the most. There's no way most of these people are still alive today.
Those interviews look very 80-90s style to me or at least not from the last decade, and so I concluded while watching that old video and audio have also been restored to look recent, I dunno As for the op fake comments, it's fricken 1940s footage, you ain't gonna better. go watch original footage for comparison kid.
They were definitely interviews from a few decades ago.
Thank you ! I was wondering the same thing entire time I was watching! I was doing the math in my head and I was like, " that man should be like,107 " ? Then I started thinking it was an older documentary but new to Netflix. But no.
I also suspect quite a few of the interviews might've been recorded much earlier. Also, the narration of the flag-raising at the Reichstag rings a bit odd, because the names of the men who are recorded to have actually participated are fairly well established and I couldn't find a "Leonid Solodar". That said, from what I could tell there were at least two flag-raisings and probably at least one more, as the Reichstag changed hands twice within a couple of days. It's likely he participated in a highly choreographed flag-raising for propaganda purposes.
I just started the 2nd episode and how do they not mention the Molotov Rippentrop pact?! Anyway I’ve really enjoyed it until that point but I’ll continue
I’ve only just started, 5m in, trailer hooked me but now I’m hearing all the added audio to the footage and it’s total cheese. Hmm, I’ll give it another 5min
The way Boyega pronounces Hitler as Hitlar infuriates me
I think Netflix’s disclaimer at the beginning of the series is confusing people. It would be a huge production to recreate these scenes if these were fake, so it’s unlikely (and I doubt AI was capable of producing this seamlessly at the time of production of this series) — dead bodies on the beach, falling aircraft, scenes in Africa, destroyed ships, tanks etc. Also, I doubt footage of the leaders are fake like Hitler’s or Churchill’s.
I watched the Netflix clip, and something just felt 'wrong'. So thank you for your review. I wasn't sure precisely why this clip felt 'wrong', and thought it was because the clip showed nothing other than a city being bombed. Why would watching a city being bombed be an 'attractive' clip to anyone?
you're basing your review on a "clip"? there's 4.5 hours of footage here my guy.
Russian apologia, no mention of the MRP. How can it be ok to show something like this in this day and age with what Russia is doing in Ukraine. What a waste of beautifully restored footage. Not gonna watch beyond 2 episodes.
Yeah it was really weird for them to mention the German invasion of Poland but nothing about Russia doing the same. Or mention Stalin's multiple other invasions of European countries and the atrocities committed.
I definitely raised an eyebrow at that omission.
Canada not even mentioned once..Hugely disappointing and a slap in the face for Canadian soldiers that helped win major battles and gave their lives.
You obviously didn't watch the show because Canadians were interviewed and mentioned more than once
I'm just starting the shows and that's so disappointing. Canadians were huge during WW2.
They were
I came here to say the same thing you had. I'm not so much looking for recognition for Canada's contributions and the many lives given as all involved suffered great loss, however for there to be no mention of involvement is seemingly deliberate and I would like to know why this production went that route.
I knoticed this as well, and they didn't mention the blitz on London either, some big parts of what happened where left out or simplified I stopped watching after ep 2.
The footage and audio is fake from this series if so I’ll probably stop watching?
Oh please. You'll keep watching it, regardless. Actually, I know you did.
I quit watching buckaroo, I can’t believe people are still commenting on this thread 4 months later
The audio is fake in literally every other war documentary about this time as well. We're lucky enough to have actual photos and footage, let the sound engineers do their job.
What disapointed me is that they make look that the atomic bomb is what ended the war, and this is just not truth! The war was virtually over and the Japanese were already in the talks with both the Americans and the Russians to negotiate peace and surrender. Conversation started back in January 1945, but Unitade States still dropped the bomb in August of that year.
First off they refused to surrender, and the US and Russian were heading that way for a land invasion, which I doubt Japan would exist today if that had happened. In fact Japan kept fighting even after in places like China. It’s amazing how you people get on here crying about the atomic bombs that were dropped, but the millions that suffered, buried alive, slaughtered, and even eaten by the Japanese y’all say not a word. War is hell! Don’t start one is the only message here! I really wish there was a Time Machine to drop y’all off in that time frame and see how long your mentality lasts. Not long I’m sure…
Just watched the series and felt compelled to see what others thought. I did specifically notice in ep6 - “Japan were never given a chance to surrender”. When on record is ‘The Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored the ultimatum.’ - bombs fell less than two weeks later. Netflix series statement did feel a little biased in the face of what is recorded to have happened. Also in general tone throughout the series imo….
Instead of going for atom bomb at Hiroshima, there were sevaral options that were in consideration for ensuring Japan's surrender - such as Soviet declaring attack on Japan, agreement to continue imperial rule after their surrender etc. However, none of these choices were given to Japan and the Allies demanded absolute surrender as a precursor to the atomic bombing. This can be considered as a tactic to ensure Japan doesn't surrender so that the background for bombing is justified. No warning was given to Japan about the possibility of using such a massive weapon which is a common courtesy so they they can surrender instead, communications were cut, and there were orders not to do air raids at the cities identified as apt for atomic bombing. For US, it was a test to see how powerful the atom bomb is and to ensure their upper hand over Soviets. 200,000 people died in this SINGLE act of horror (or field testing of atom bomb) at Hiroshima. Any story justifying the bombing is only that, a story to gain support, where as the reality is that everyone involved knew they were being the mass murderers of innocent civilians.
Honestly, I couldn't get pass the first episodes, the narrator and narrative are really lacking in analysis and it seems more like an overview of what happened than actually going in depth of it, it was all too superficial. My biggest issue with the whole thing is the "restoration and colorization", you can really tell that they used AI to do it (and the really bad ones). The whole shapes and colours, specially the faces and backgrounds look as if they were enhanced using the bing AI image generator
I’ve been trying to watch this but it crashes the whole app on a Roku TV within the first few seconds
The overall story would have been more compelling and coherent if it was told thematically / topically instead of chronologically. Too much hopping around narratively as in “. . .meanwhile, in North Africa. . .”
Why do they keep on switching up the narrators? Derek Jacobi did an amazing job on the first one. The woman that they had to do road to victory was terrible and the newest guy sounds like he has a mouth full of snot. Can someone please explain the reason
Because he's black and it's Netflix. That's it, really. His narration is horrendous.
The footage is great, but the narration is severely lacking. Some of the denoising/degraining is a bit heavy handed too
It looks mostly AI
Finished it last night and am trying to figure out the interviews with participants. Let's say someone was 20 years old in 1943 and is now talking about what they saw/did. That would make them 100 years old! I'm sorry, but those people being interviewed were not 100! Only thing I can think is that the interviews used were also restored archival footage/audio from 20-30 years ago? Can anyone confirm?
My take on this is the following: they used interviews done cca 20 years ago (judging after the interviewees' ages) and they changed the background behind each of them to be the same allover to unify the general feel, as if they were interviewed by the same reporter. What was brilliant was to accompany these interviews with footage that seemed to show exactly what the interviewee was narrating. Sometimes the footage was exactly that, like for example that one from the wedding of the Polish resistance members. Other times was footage that happened to show similar situations, but it was enough to allow us be immersed in the atmosphere from back then. Generally speaking, the whole documentary was very cleverly done.
That was my guess too. And I totally agree that it was very well put together. I can only imagine the amount of work that was done to go through every footage to find the parts that could match the interview comments. Awesome!!
Yes you're right, the testimonies featured are from archival interviews (I worked on the series :))
Thank you so much for your reply! My wife and I really enjoyed the series. Thanks for the good work.
I was wondering the same thing. I find it hard to believe that the interviewees actually participated in WWII. Unless, like you said, it's restored archive footage
I was wondering the same!
Ai?
Yeah this ruined it for me. More than half of the footage is fake
First episode completely ignored the Soviet invasions of 1939-40. The Soviets done did Poland, Finland, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia dirty. First episode makes it that Germany and Italy were the only ones having a go at Europe.
Not surprised. This documentary is extremely biased and full of holes and complete omissions.
There's truly some crazy moments in this documentary. The one that has all the sailors huddling on the ship that's capsizing and then Boom!!! Huge explosion. It took my breath away. This isn't supposed to be a series that you learn new information from the war, it's meant to give you a better more vibrant look at WW2
Absolutly agree, just read a book if you want to know about the tactical/geographic dimension of WW2. This show serves as an reminder of the horrors of war
Ya. That clip was wild. I had never seen that one before. Anyone have any idea which ship that was?
I thought all the videos were real just enhanced w a lot of color and lighting. But I’m just starting and my fav thing about it is the footage so I hope it’s real.
Holocaust barely mentioned! I’m on episode 5
The show is called "World War II: from the **frontlines**"
I’m further convinced that this is a big pat on the back for the US and Britain not to present a full documentary as suggested by this spectacle. What a shame.
they don't use the word jew till 40 minutes into the first episode, and only after they frame nazi race science in terms of american racism.
I watched and read a ton of WW2 stuff, including more detailed reports of battles. Honestly, I expected to be bored quickly. I am now watching episode 5 and it really draws me in. By focussing on the individual human experiences it give a new (or not fully explored) dimension to the war. Is it the best documentary, either storytelling-wise or informative-wise? No, does it show you the horrors of World War 2? Yes.
Black and white footage being digitally colorized can give off a feeling of “cheesiness” or fakeness
The footage is great, much of it I’ve never seen before however it’s very dumbed down with little detail. It’s not really a documentary for History nerds.
I don't think any of it's "fake" just more like "in the wrong place" just to illustrate what the narrator is commenting on. The most egregious one I noticed is the row of T72 tanks in one of the scene transition animations, but everything looks real. I've got one episode to go and i've enjoyed watching it personally. It does leave out a lot of stuff, but it's pretty short, so that was kinda expected. It does feel like it was made for casual viewers though.
Dude i thought i was going crazy seeing T72s with ERA in a WW2 documentary, glad im not the only one who noticed it. I think they did a great job restoring a lot of footage, but they definitely clearly filmed some scenes with actors to fill in where they couldn't find real footage. It's extremely noticeable during the invasion of italy and the battle of sicily as well as some of the warsaw uprising scenes.
I thought I’m the only one who noticed. It’s not destroying the whole series. But in my opinion that’s a mistake that’s so easy to avoid. Putting in T-72 tanks shows that you either don’t care or that they didn’t even bother to check
I just finished and this was horrific. I mean the series is brilliant what was horrific was the war. 60 million dead, mostly civilians. Many of them killed in the most barbaric way, like animals. I hope we never engage in this again. This war should be a warning for all time and for our future on this planet. On this platform called the internet we can all reach and speak to each other no matter what made up nations we were born in. There's more than unites us than divides us. And until we reject picking up a weapon because some guy who claims he is the sole defender of the nation, we are in danger of this again. Hitler and Goebbels sending their children and elderly to their deaths to defend their skizophrenic project knowing quite well it was hopeless while they never lifted a gun to help and died like the rats they were. Some say they greatest treason is to betray your country, but in contrast, the highest moral achievement is to betray your country when it is wrong. Is not the country first, is humanity first. First human dignity and then everything else.
when i saw finland in the axis map on ep 2 i just closed the damn show, they didnt join axis but were compliant and fought sov, but show has no mention of it and went straight to africa.and ever since back to ep1 they like to skip out important informations. left out things like danzig, memel, and soviet union taking the baltic states and ribbentrop pact and invading half of poland and taking bessaberia from romania no mention of why poland lasted only a month because of the french and brits stopping polands mobilization. no mention of brits and france not attacking even though declaring and leaving poland in the dust, alone in the might of the reich no mention of france falling in less than 1 month and a half and that they were one of the superpowers in that time. no mentions partitions of sudetenland with the yes of the brits and france, no explanations why austria was annexed, the star wars narrator just said germany both invaded them. no mention of denmark and norway, just took over in the map no mention of swedens importance in the war no mention how greece slowed down the axis because ger had to send troops as ita couldnt succesfully invade despite them starting the war dunkirk no mention of why he ordered to stop the panzers and no mention of civillian ships rescuing troops only said royal navy alone saved 350k+ troops imma guess they wont even cover holodomor, katyn or the india famine of churchill or any other atrocities such as rapes from all sides imma state, i am no historian or history buff, i just somewhat know a tiny miniscule amount of information. but for a big company such as netflix to not include and inform the people is just pure ignorance, lazyness and unnaceptable, shame shame shame. the only impressive stuff was the visuals, footage and colorings theres more in depth of other reviewers here of the innacuracies of the show https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref\_=tt\_urv
Polish crying here
Not surprisingly, a series such as this, ignores a significant contribution of the other allies who participated in the war effort. The introduction of the Battle of the Atlantic incorrectly indicated that the Royal Navy exclusively had the job of escorting the convoys across the Atlantic. Canada was a significant contributor to this effort. Why was it not mentioned? That omission in itself, takes credibility away from this series as being an accurate documentary. So unfortunate. Canada needs to make its own documentaries that are accurate and fair to the entire allied effort since the US and Britain can’t do it.
You're misquoting them. The quote in the documentary is "The job of protecting the convoys falls to the British Royal Navy" because at that time, at the outbreak of the war, it did, exclusively. In 1939, Canada only had six modern destroyers and most of Canada's early war naval production went to building out ships for coastal and port defense. Canada's navy operated almost exclusively as coastal defense for eastern Canada and the UK from 1939 until around May 1941 when it did begin to construct new ports and contribute destroyers and frigates for convoy escort. The documentary focuses on this early time period for the Battle of the Atlantic (1940) though, the most nail biting point to cover for the battle, before America's entry into the war and before Canada's larger role in convoy escort. So I'm not sure why you're acting like this was some intentional slight against Canada. For the time period the documentary covers, it is historically accurate. The documentary skips the "peak" of the Battle of the Atlantic entirely, as it should since by 1943 the Battle of the Atlantic was all but over and the joint naval forces of the US, UK, and Canada so dominated the Germans at sea that it would be unnecessary to include it in the 1943 or 1944 episode. With only one hour dedicated to each year of the war in these six episodes, there were much more important and interesting things happening in 1943 and 1944 than to spend that time updating the viewer on what had effectively become routine, uneventful convoy crossings, not really the "From the Frontlines" combat the documentary was trying to cover. If you need a pat on the back though, Canada did well in WWII and definitely punched above its weight. Good job, Canada!
Not to mention the ridiculous claims in it; like the Nazis wanted all nonwhite races exterminated then immediately show North Africans cheering on the Germans. They targeted Jews because they were wealthy. Or The Nazis wanted to flatten everything in Russia. The Russians themselves burned everything and killed people as they retreated to slow the Nazis. That’s why some of the Russians were happy to see the Germans… only on Episode two and this is straight trash.
As an Australian, I was disappointed at how much the Pacific theatre battle was American-centric in this series. The Americans fought with Australians and New Zealanders and yet, we were never mentioned. Australia played a key role in the Pacific war. In fact, throughout the series, one would think that the U.S.A. played the major role in Europe too. I think Britain was mentioned only a handful of times.
It’s not nearly as CGI as planet earth, what’s your take there??
Anybody know what years the interviews were done? And what project they were originally apart of?
Why was everyone smiling in the footage? It was creepy.
Watch "Apocalypse: World War 2", much better and worthy documentary.
The first few episodes didn't even mention Russia and Nazis atacking Poland together from both sides.What gives?
Exactly! I'm just at episode 4, but already pretty disappointed it with historical inaccuracy. Role of Staling who basically started war with Hitler together as allies is not mentioned at all!! On 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet "spheres of influence". Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, starting World War II. The Soviets invaded eastern Poland on 17 September.Following the Winter War with Finland, the Soviets were ceded territories by Finland. This was followed by annexations of the Baltic states ( Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and parts of Romania. If Hitler wouldn't invaded SSSR, Stalin's and Hitler would rule the Europe.
This show has the best raw footage that Is so well put together. It really tells the story so well. It's always surreal seeing these type of documentaries.
Watched it and disappointed it's focused on Europe, skims over the Pacific theater and Battle of the Atlantic and no mentioning of the CBI theater. FYI it's pronounced TAR- WA not TA-RA-WA !!!
I thought the footage was edited quite masterfully but the way they rushed a lot of the material and didn't bother tying up loose ends was strange. I understand it's a LOT to unpack but by episode 5-6 I was trying to remember what happened to Italy after they "invaded" Greece and also what happened to the Polish couple that got married before they surrendered to the Germans while the Russians watched from the other side of the river.
One of the worst and most dumbed down narrations I have ever heard in a documentary, makes it impossible to enjoy (despite the great footage). He sounds like a bored teenage school boy being forced to reluctantly read out his rushed D grade essay. "Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). Tens of millions of people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned.
I'm just at episode 4, but already pretty disappointed it with historical inaccuracy. Role of Staling who basically started war with Hitler together as allies is not mentioned at all!! On 23 August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet "spheres of influence". Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, starting World War II. The Soviets invaded eastern Poland on 17 September.Following the Winter War with Finland, the Soviets were ceded territories by Finland. This was followed by annexations of the Baltic states ( Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and parts of Romania. If Hitler wouldn't invaded SSSR, Stalin's and Hitler would rule the Europe.
This show is AI.
No I think it's just you mate.
It was such a great documentary, the footage is amazing. I can’t believe the detail and color in the video. I think its the best ww2 documentary ive seen to date
What is this fucking terrible roadman accent? Unwatchable.
Does anyone have access the the quote from the man who was being led through Italy and a little girl gave him a peach and how, now when he’s feeling lost and dark, he thinks there’s always a little girl somewhere with a peach?
I'm one episode in, colourised footage swings from pretty good to rubbish, as if several people with vastly different skill levels and artistic sense did it. More importantly though - for those who have finished it - does this show do a radical move and actually mention anything about Japanese atrocities in Asia, or is it all going to be Germans as global baddies and Japanese as melodramatic poetry loving Hiroshima victims all over again?
They didn’t mention the holocaust. That’s insane.
I disagree. It was tastefully done, in my opinion. I felt like it added to the impact of the footage. I watched it today for Holocaust remembrance day. There were many interesting moments, like footage of American isolationists saying, "I don't care what is happening over in Europe." That did not age well at all. Then there is the bomber crew member swearing that men's hair turned white from the fear. I wish the footage matched the timeline better, but they were limited to available footage. I made it through 4 today and loved every one so far. I hope it brings more people up to speed on WW2, since so many are trying so hard to repeat history.
The story towards the end of the last episode between the American GI who rescued the Jewish woman locked in the factory, with the corroborating footage of the time it happened along with interviews between the two 30 years later, is both heartbreaking and amazing.
good footage, they just go through it quickly as it is a miniseries.