Les Géants de guerre

The lack of Hollywood-level production values should not take away from the overall quality of this miniseries. The casting and acting is superb and the amount of research must have been incredible. The script lags at some points and there are some anachronisms (most notably the many maps of Europe which show postwar boundaries), but it accurately captures the interplay between three giants of history. It's interesting to note that there are only 5 significant speaking parts (the Big 3 plus Molotov and Hopkins), and the film does a good job capturing the dialogue between them even when they're separate geographically. A simple production that is pure history without unnecessary and distracting dramatic elements -- the history of the time and how the Big 3 interacted with each other produced more than enough drama.

The weakness of this movie is that the real giant of WW2 is never mentioned! General De Gaulle outshines Stalin, the greatest of the 3, not to mention Roosevelt who was in his decline and Churchill who was more braggatio than anything else. De Gaulle was able to take a defeated, demoralized and betrayed concept, the French Republic, and revived it.

I couldn't disagree more with the teenager that watched it for school. This was terrific acting of an episode in history that affects any resident of the world. Well acted by the leading characters, good explanation of the historical context of the situation, and a fascinating portrayal of the differing interests of the three nations involved. I was riveted to it. The stakes involved for each country were enormous beyond belief, and I appreciate that it wasn't trivialized by Hollywood by throwing in love interests, happy endings, and 'awesome' special effects. Rather, it's an editing and re-enactment of actual words, meetings, press releases, etc that nevertheless is very dramatic and straightforward. I have watched this show, and, in addition, the Band of Brothers mini-series, and Patton for a good understanding of the interrelationships, tribulations, and objectives of WW II at the leadership level, the military's level, and at the level of the guy in the trenches. It all makes sense when you put it all together, with each reinforcing the other.

Old movies never die, they just fade away (apologies). Frankly, I don't buy many DVDs, but I will be looking for this one!

Since I first wrote this in 2004, I have just discovered (May 2007) that it was released on DVD back in Feb. ! I'm anxiously awaiting delivery.

An interesting and very different take on the 2nd World War. The three main characters of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. Thrash out their views, opinions and solutions on the best way to defeat Hitler. Hoskins, Lithgow and Caine were quite convincing on the whole, particularly John Lithgow who seemed to have an uncanny resemblance to the Real FDR. When one considers the intrigue and distrust that they all shared, it was quite amazing that the Allies won the war at all. As with most historical films, I'm sure a fair amount of poetic licence was included in this film, along with some accurate minutes of the various meetings.

"When Lions Roared" ("Then There Were Giants") is a meticulously crafted film that is sure to delight lovers of historical films. I cannot stress enough how impressive this film was. That being said....it's not surprising I'd love it, as I was a world and US history teacher. But for non-history lovers, the film would probably be a bit confusing as to what is happening and, a bit boring. It's a shame, but I cannot imagine folks feeling neutral towards the film in most cases...you'll either love it or you'll hate it.

The film consists of exchanges, by phone, mail, through envoys and in person between the leaders of the Allies during WWII. Bob Hoskins plays Churchill, John Lithgow plays Roosevelt and Michael Caine (who is WAY too tall to play the diminutive man) plays Stalin. And, to get it right, they make sure to use the men's own words. How can you do any better than this?! Well crafted and pretty amazing.