39-45 : L'humanité en guerre

I binged this series. What I enjoyed the most was the ability to show every country's suffering, in spite of what we may have been told or read growing up; it reminds you that suffering came from all over the world and that many didn't want to fight, but had a duty. Watching the footage and knowing this was actual footage, and actual accounts by those enduring the war was what touched me the most. It is important that documentaries like these are continued to be made so that we remember how people suffer , and continue to suffer in this world. Other reviewers have mentioned that there are historical inaccuracies in the series, I cannot attest to this, but it definitely leaves the viewer with a lot of questions. But again, if you want to learn more or verify, you have the ability to do that , this series was a good way to get witnesses' accounts of the war.

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. 👍

Amazing restored footage and personal interviews but misses the mark on accurate history. Went out of the way to show the actions of the Allies that cast them in a bad light. Makes no mention that Germany targeted civilians first in the Battle over Britain. Made no attempt to explain the loss lives in the invasions of the smaller islands that led the US to estimate the millions that would have died in fighting for the main islands of Japan. Italy did not conquer Greece either. Jon Boyega's narration was terrible. You would think English was not his native tongue. I would say it's worth watching for the interviews and restored frontline film. Take the history as slanted and in some cases just wrong.

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.

Some of the colourised film was interesting, but the thread seemed to double back on itself from time to time. The narrative was thin and delivered very poorly. It comes from the mouth of someone whose second language is English and who suffers from seeming not to have a first one. The Luftwaffe was mispronounced, as was the Third "Rike". Surely, if you are going to narrate a programme, you should find out how to pronounce the words you are going to utter? I also noticed such beauties as "Nawf Africah"; "in the middoow"; "forcin' the British out" and many other examples of poor English. The narrator sounds as if he is either foreign, or from some inner-city estate near London. Why not use someone British with clear enunciation to do the commentary, like Robert Powell? As it is the commentary was a constant irritant. I'd do it myself, if it comes down to it. I've done it before.

What I have seen is superficial, incorrect and minimises the people who prevented Hitler winning, which is us British. Why, they have a former Luftwaffe pilot telling us that German pilots at the Battle of Britain were better than the British! Really? How come we won, then? Inclusion of that opinion was singularly pointless, as was a comment by a former German soldier about the racial inferiority of the Russians. This was not stated as a historic opinion, by the way. The focus on the Nazis and race is not the point of the programme, surely? The main point should be on what the War was about: battlefields; victories; defeats; the order of battle; conquest and so forth. The programme is called "World War II: From the Frontlines", after all. There is no analysis of why there was a war at all, which is central to the whole thing and should have been the starting point. Otherwise, it suggests that Germany (or Hitler) just thought a war sounded like a fun idea and would let him be driven around in front of adoring crowds, sticking his arm out. There is no contrary opinion to the German idea expressed in the programme that the Poles were asking for it and were going to get it. No, they weren't. There was a fake attack on a German radio station used as an excuse to invade Poland. No mention was made of that.

There is no mention of Italy getting pasted by the Greeks and how Hitler had to send troops in support to conquer Greece (or about British support of the Greeks), which meant taking seasoned divisions out of the attack on Russia. That was important. No mention of the Soviets' criminal act in also attacking Poland in 1939, along with the Germans. There is the constant talk of "Nazis", as if there was a nation called "the Nazis". It was a war against Germany and on VE Day, in Trafalgar Square, it was made abundantly clear that it was victory over Germany.

Netflix, if you are going to make a programme about history, then get your act together and don't try to rubbish the guys who kept fighting when everyone else had been conquered, were neutral, or allied to Germany. Those guys were the British. All America did was to sell us weapons and let us do the fighting. Americans wanted no part in the War, thank you very much. Canada gave us food without charge and when Europe was invaded on D Day, the majority of troops involved were British and Canadian, not American.