39-45 : L'humanité en guerre

I have watched a great many documentary series on WW2 & also read a great deal on the subject. Far from being an expert on the matter I do however enjoy watching new material so thought I'd give this long awaited series a try.

The colourisation is pretty well done. It does look a bit off sometimes but generally it holds up nicely. Much of the footage you may well have seen before but it's all knitted together extremely well and while not exactly on the epic scale of World At War it does cover the basics quite well. That being said there are a few historical inaccuracys that don't detract from the overall retelling of such a monumental period in our history.

This isn't a "deep dive" into the causes and consequences of the war - it's far too short to do that. It is a good overview of some of the key moments of the war retold by some of the people who were there. Some of these survivors stories are utterly heartbreaking, particularly the young Jewish girl who survived a Nazi labour camp.

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room!!! You may well have read a number of reviews on here criticising the choice and style of the narrator. In my opinion John Boyega does a fine job with his succinct and matter of fact style. Ok so it's not Sir Lawrence Olivier but then who is? The script is straight forward and his delivery is perfectly ok. It certainly doesn't spoil it for me and some reviewers would do better to examine their own shortcomings based upon some of their comments.

If you like WW2 documentaries that aren't too "deep" and tell the tale that needed telling then give this a watch. If you want to know every tiny historic detail then watch the World At War. 👍

Basic and inaccurate Netflix series, which hides historical facts of great importance. Its greatest merit is the sound and colorization of scenes. There is a vast amount of filmed material presented here and, therefore, it was worth watching this series. In historical terms, there is a minimalism in information that is very uncomfortable. Little is said (or not even said at all) about the infamous agreement between Stalin and Hitler, the non-aggression pact. There is no mention of the siege of Leningrad. Another inaccurate fact is the terrible situation in which Great Britain found itself at a certain point, alone fighting against Hitler. It is unacceptable not to highlight this fact and this great courage to continue fighting. The definitive documentary of the Second World War already exists. It's French and called Apocalypse and was produced in 2009.

Most of the negative reviews have mistakenly thought something as complex as world war 2 can be covered in 6 episodes. They seem to compare this to The World at War which is detailed and 26 episodes long. This is 6. It's emotive with the interviews of people who experienced the war and the black and white footage restored with color adds to that emotion. Some complain of the narration. It's no Laurence Olivier. I would say to those who have marked it low, manage your expectations of what can be showed and explored in 6 episodes of a Netflix documentary for a war spanning years. I don't think the intention was to condense the accuracy of The World at War into 6 episodes.

At the first episode we watch the really amazing captures of the expansion of the Axis in Europe and Asia. What is really frustrating is the description of the Italian invasion of Greece and the presumably "soft" resistance of Greece. That never actually happened. The invasion of Greece failed and the resistance was relentless resulting to the first win against Axis Powers on land. The invasion of Greece happened many months later after the German involvement. Colouring films is not sufficient if you don't know facts. The WWII is studied well enough and if you just Google it you can learn some things. Such a shame.

The series tells the story of ww2 with a remarkable lack of context. There is little explanation as to WHY things happened. However, the picture restoration is impressive. It can be useful as an introduction to ww2, but this series is useless if you seek a deeper historical understanding.

There is no mentioning of the Great War, which was an important factor as to why ww2 started in the first place. Nor any mentioning of why Germany and England started bombing each other's capitals.

As a documentary, these shortcomings ruin the experience.

It is however interesting to hear what people who actually lived the war experienced. I'm just frustrated by the lack of historical context...