39-45 : L'humanité en guerre

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.

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.

The colorisation of archived footage is really done well. Similar things have been done before, but not quite on this level.

Yes, the narrative is very basic / introductory, but for some audiences (eg school students) this will be perfect. It doesn't need to be advanced to be a good documentary.

For me, the real attraction and power of this series is the way it brings the war to life. It must have taken a lot of work to optimise the footage in terms of speed, colour and frame rate. The outcome is better than any remastering I've seen before. The overall flow of the documentary is good, and the way the story is interspersed with commentary from veterans or civilians works well.

If you feel that this series insults your intelligence, maybe you are not the target audience. This series is an engaging way to familiarize students and non-WWII buffs with some of the events and emotions of one of the most influential eras in modern history - without making it feel like ancient history. If you are somehow offended by its simplicity, or the fact that there is nothing you didn't already know, or that the narrator doesn't sound like all of the other WWII documentary narrators you've heard, maybe reframe your expectations and try watching it through a different lens - or don't watch it at all. I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know.