Like many other people, I’ve been watching the new Ken Burns series – The War. Yes, it’s about World War II, which is probably among the most documented events in history. What more is there to say? Well . . . plenty. Without taking away from many of the existing efforts at examining WWII, I think that The War does an excellent job of zeroing in on the most important thing – the human cost of war. Please give it a chance.
Update: I happened to be watching Ken Burns get interviewed on the Daily Show, and he just said that he doesn’t think he could have made it 10 years ago, because the WWII vets didn’t really want to talk about it, and that he wouldn’t be able to make it 10 years from now, because so many of them will be gone. It’s his experience that right now, at this point in time, a lot of WWII vets are willing to talk. I bring this up because it fits with something I was shocked to learn a couple of days ago – my own grandfather is watching this series. It’s shocking not just because he’s never been one for documentaries or history, but because the subject of his time in the Pacific in WWII (and esp. in Nagasaki, immediately after the atom bomb was dropped) has rarely been a subject he was willing to broach, nevermind discuss or let others examine. I hope this series doesn’t disappoint him.