History repackages all of the War stuff again.
You get 17 discs of repackage material about every American War. It’s all fun and has been seen across the Channel. Then, the World War II stuff starts!
The stock footage used of the Pacific War, carrier war, and USS Enterprise was shot initially in standard 4×3 full screen ratio format, which included a substantial amount of carrier footage filmed in beautiful Technicolor. Unfortunately, every single foot in the series was altered by the producers to fit the modern 16×9 widescreen ratio format. The result is a distorted “fish eye” or “squatty” effect that distorts the historical record. Though this technique is now typical, and perhaps understandable, it is hard to accept nonetheless when viewing actual film history of any given event. This problem could have been corrected simply by using a Japanese “rising sun” representation to one side of the screen with a partial configuration of the Stars and Stripes representation opposite
When we follow the Enterprise into battle duty, in World War II, it is when Japan comes into the fracas. The intensity and complicated strategies of the multi-front battleground on which the Enterprise and her crew served are explored using CGI visualizations to give the viewer the feeling of being there in the heat of the action. Ten of the World War II conflicts in which the USS Enterprise and her crew were engaged, are examined, and viewers are able to see just how the battles were fought on all levels.
The role of Allied military forces is barely covered, however, furthering the misconception that the US alone won the war. Although the story jumps between war theaters around the world the brilliant editing shocks the senses with scene after scene of the horrifying cruelty inflicted on soldiers and civilians throughout the world. Graphic footage of blasted bodies and wounded children is very hard to watch but the end result is the most effective anti-war film I have ever seen. The fanatical resistance of the Japanese military plus their diabolical cruelty caused tens of thousands of US soldiers to die in epic battles on small Pacific islands.
Finally, we arrive at Vietnam. The basic narrative presentation recounts the stories of 13 men and women, and we see the war unravel from their perspective. From soldiers, to medical personnel, to reporters, to those on the homefront–this covers a myriad of individual experiences while highlighting key components and chapters of the war itself.
The thing about Vietnam is that once you start discussing the controversies and what we now know to be untruths, it is a discussion without end, full of passion and short on facts, not because of the people discussing it but because the whole thing was based upon a twenty year series of lies and deceptions on the part of the governments involved. Wherever there are lies there will always be arguments, and the subject of the Vietnam war is proof positive of this on a massive scale. This series did not attempt to take any of that on, and wisely so. Though at times I found this irritating — for instance, the neutral announcement of the events in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 as legal cause for Johnson’s escalation, when we now know that at least one of the incidents never happened.
The all-knowing CG eye has returned to help out The History Channel again. So much of what is presented here feels like a regurgitation from the last 800 times that History has tackled it. However, I like the inventive approaches towards the recycling. However, I do have one major bugaboo about what’s being presented here. As an amateur historian, I wonder about the impact of restaging events if no camera could’ve documented them. In that sense, we’re repurposing material and not accurately reporting what happened. Is that disrespectful or is it a new way to share history with kids? Am I over thinking this one? The DVD comes with no special features.
RELEASE DATE: 12/15/2015