Tweet

Ken Burns’ approach to the formidable subject of the most widespread military confrontation in history is designed, characteristically, to get to the heart of matters. The film focuses on World War II in a bottom -up fashion that sees the conflict through the experiences of four “quintessentially American towns” – Luverne in Minnesota, Mobile in Alabama, Sacramento in California, and Waterbury in Connecticut. The film recounts the experiences of a number of individuals from these communities as they move through the war in the Pacific, African and European theatres, and focuses on the effect the war had on them, their families and their communities.

In seven parts, Burns takes the viewer from America’s entry into the war through to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender. Notable actors such as Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson and Eli Wallach bring emotional clout by reading contemporary newspaper articles, telegrams, and letters from the front that involve the viewer in the reality of wartime.

 

Anne Biggs on 10th September 2008
View all 7 of Anne Biggs's reviews