The War A Ken Burns Film Directed Blu-ray

Well documented film that covers the facts of war while drawing in the experiences of individual servicemen and their families. Kept the rapt attention of all our family members. Highly recommend!

World War II is the defining moment in Americas history that marked the way for the civil rights movement! A must see by all.

Ken Burns always blows me away with his ability to tell a story, entertain, and make what he is trying to convey meaningful, personal, and moving. The War simply WOWs you as you hear the stories of those deeply impacted by these events. If you are a WWII buff - this must be part of your collection! Thank you Ken Burns and God bless!

I started watching some of the middle part on PBS, but ordered the full set. Best buy ever. It is long, detailed and wonderful. I have needed to go back and watch many sections and found this set to be the best way to do that. Thanks PBS

I am the son, like many, many, of a husband and wife who lived their twenties during World War 2. My father served in the U.S. Army from 1941 through 1945. My mother bore me and cared for me while she waited and worried about her husband. The war changed their lives in ways they could not have anticipated. For understanding their generation of Americans, I know of no better instrument than this series. Its collage of interviews, photographs, film, and narrative stuns the viewer. I shall try to describe some of my reactions to its overall affect. Studs Terkel called his collection of interviews with people who had lived through World War II - with much tongue in cheek - The Good War. This documentary shows that his tongue in cheek was badly needed. Tom Brokaw with the sincerity of a son called the Americans who fought the war and lived it The Greatest Generation. The War shows the Americans of its generation were as flawed as any other generation of Americans - but incredibly brave. As one of the primary interviewees says, There is no good war, but perhaps there are necessary wars. By following the lives of people from four different American towns, we get to see the truth of that description. The film and photos from the front lines show time and again the incredible heroism, not just of particular medal winners, but of everyone who went in harms way in combat. It shows the brutality, inhumanity, the mind-numbing fear, and the wretched randomness of life and death on battlefields on the ground, on the seas, and in the air. And it also shows in graphic images and in testimony searing by its very mundaneness why WW 2 was a necessary war. If we tend to think of courage as the virtue of soldiers and airmen, sailors and marines, the documentary also shows the heroism asked of so many at home in the four communities: sons lost, brothers lost, friends lost. And it shows in a stronger way than Ive seen or read of in many other venues the profound cost to those who survived. It was not over with the signing of a surrender document. For many, many it continued for decades after its end. But The War also shows a darker underside of our prosecution of this war. We listen to Japanese-Americans who were forcibly moved into concentration camps for its duration, and who were then asked to send their sons to fight for our government. We listen to African-Americans who are refused the opportunity to serve in uniform, or shunted into labor battalions, or denied even the most basic human rights while serving. And, while they serve, their fathers, mothers, siblings, and friends are forced to fight a different war - sometimes nearly as violent - to build the weapons of democracy. And often in brutal images we also see how it brutalized those of the generation who fought it. Neither picture is the whole truth alone. Both, together, create a fuller vision of the truth than either alone, and The War captures them both to a fuller degree than Ive seen elsewhere. I have a couple of cavets to the perfection suggested by my five star review. First, take the warning at the beginning of every episode seriously: many scenes in the documentary are too brutal for viewing by children, and, in fact, you may end up wondering if they are not too brutal for you, too. But Im not sure how we who want to understand our parents or grandparents who lived through this horror can expect to do so antiseptically. Secondly, while the documentary is historically accurate in general, it is not a history of the U.S.s World War 2. I noted a several details, for instance, which seem to reflect more the mythology of the war than the chronology of it.

Most excellent review of WW II on American Families throughout the United States. Great film, must see!

Ken Burns and his team really nailed it with The War. I purchased this series for my Father, who is a WW2 buff. My paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Italian and Normandy campaigns of the war. We rarely have time for family with our respective jobs, yet we managed to sit down late at night and watch part of this series together. Weve yet to finish it, so I decided to buy it for one of his Christmas gifts. If you or a loved one have somebody in mind that holds passion for war related merchandise and media, I fully recommend Ken Burns documentary.

OK folks...and Ken, I admit a boo boo here. I had a burned aka stolen copy of this series and watched till my DVD near quit. That said, after viewing the online series, I was further blown away with the quality of this series. Upon realizing the rareness of such a program that focuses on the idividual Vs. the cookie cut out of films in the past. In summary, I WILL purchase the real deal at my very next opportunity and love it up. I think in todays times we ARE very complacent and forget that 1945 was not that long ago...and the world was under great pressure. Just like today, but with less personal sacrifices. So far...in the near future? Whom really knows?

I watched this series on PBS and was absolutely stunned with the incredible images that most of us have never seen before. My father served in Pattons army, and to see what he went through, the places hed been, filled me with a renewed respect for what my father went through, as it also filled holes in the stories my father wouldnt tell. I believe that now I may be able to put labels on the sundry black and white photos I have of him in the service...pictures with no names. When I can afford to, I will purchase this for myself, just so I can connect with an amazing veteran who has been gone over 30 years now.

I LOVED every minute of this Docu-Drama!