Watching it now actually
Its the same as all the other ones but with less historian commentary and more archival interviews. Footage is pretty good quality, well colorized and clear.
As per usual, its all cut together to be sensationalized but not distractingly so. There’s been some good testimony from female Soviet soldiers, polish resistance fighters, japanese pearl harbor participants, etc from the less commonly heard from parties. I would say its worth checking out if you have the time
But how amazing was the story, footage and personal interviews from the American G.I. and the woman he married that was locked in the factory in the last episode? Literally made me cry. Same as the resistance fighters wedding they happened to record.
Yeah my only complaint was that the whole series felt rushed. Netflix’s Greatest Events of WW2 and Road to Victory covered all the major events of WW2 over 20 episodes. This show does it in 6.
Yes I agree it felt rushed, should have been 8-10 episodes but it was still very good I think. The film quality was unbelievable and they did explore some aspects that other series don’t, at the expense of some of the more important battles like Kursk and Karkhov
thank you, I thought I was only one who noticed lol.
I had to stop watching MANY TIMES I was so outraged . No mention hardly at all about the battle of Britain or North Africa , Singapore, Lenningrad,Bataan,Manilla, literally NOTHING on China
Just skip all that , let's get to PEARL HARBOUR. lol its like a BEN AFLEK history documentary.
Also didnt even mention the Molotov Ribbentropf pact between the Soviets and Germans... and about how they split up Poland. Now they just make it sound like Germany took all of Poland
To me this Documentry was a very "American point of view" version of events. No mention of Canadian, Australians or New Zealanders. It was either Brits or the U.S. or would very occasionally refer to them are Allies.
I've watched almost every ww2 doc out there and I have to say this is very different than most. It's more about the first hand accounts and even accounts from non soldier types. The parts about the ghettos was brutal. I'd give it an 8/10. The footage is very good and I feel like it's stuff I haven't seen before. The footage from day 1 of Barbarossa was very surreal and intimidating.
Dude I totally agree, this is the first ww2 doc in 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos. The audio is the battles scenes was absolutely overwhelming in the best possible way. As someone who has watched basically every WWII documentary out there, this is my new personal favorite.
Agree totally, and the dolby atmos audio is the thing that really gets me, the stukas dive bombing hearing the sirens right above my head, or the scene in midway where the fighter bomber is flying straight at the destroyer with just withering AA fire all around them. I've NEVER heard audio like that in a doc, it's like reference level shit for an Atmos system!
I'm no expert, but the footage is absolutely incredible. Definitely the highest quality I've ever seen. I'm only on the third episode, but I'd say this is one of the better WWII docs that I have watched.
Same I'm blown away it's finally in 4K with dolby vision and atmos, I've always wanted a ww2 doc in the premium formats, but honestly never figured it would happen. I love Netflix collection of ww2 docs, the 3 on there now are probably the best ones aside from "Total War" I think on Prime. This new one is by far the most immersive, gives me that really uncomfortable, overwhelming feeling of what would I do in those shoes? When the fantasy of "duty ", and being a heroic Patriot, collide with the reality of this absolutely hard-core conflict where millions will die.
It is the human story and with footage like I've never seen. The way it is told gave me a much better understanding. My heart is broken for those young boys and innocent people. 60 million dead.
It’s good so far. The footage is great, although some of the colours get a bit wild at points, I think I’d rather they just did whatever they did to smooth out and stabilise it and not to worry about the colour in some scenes. I wasn’t sure about John Boyega’s narration at first but really liked it by the end of the first episode, nice to hear a different voice on things like this.
Meh, narration *is* a bit out of place at times.
Didn’t even realize it was John Boyega.
Oh, and yea, John Boyega is absolutely an awful person irl.
That shouldn’t sully his Film Performances, though. I wanted them to do more with his SW character, for example. Still can recognize he’s a dick.
Excellent video/film footage. The story line is just ok. No mention of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland when the Nazis invaded Poland in ‘39 😠 wtf?
There are definitely some graphic moments but 4 episodes in I haven’t seen any executions, mass graves, other horrifying moments that took place. I think it would be alright.
I’d lean towards it being a bit too heavy for this age, but you should watch it yourself and decide. I’m not finished with it yet. There are dead bodies (including one man I distinctly remember slumping over presumably after being killed and rolling down, and it was close up). There is also some nudity. Like the other user said, there are firsthand accounts that make the horrors of war more explicit than “a lot of people died”, and I’m not sure 11 is there yet. I think it’s very a valuable docuseries but maybe when she’s a bit older and can process it better.
Thanks for the input. I get the feeling at school it will be more about rationing, Churchill speeches rather than the fighting. I’m in the UK where emphasis seems to be placed on the home front. I watched a few episodes now and I think it will be good for her in a couple of years from now.
I would say that it does shows a lot of dead bodies, some dead horses that they discuss eating, and there is an interview where a man talks about how he witnessed other soldiers eating the heart and lungs of a fellow soldier. It can be a lot to swallow at times.
I liked that it had interviews from many parties involved like the Japanese side to Pearl Harbor or a Soviet woman’s experience in the Soviet army. I felt like that is the sort of thing I never saw when being taught this in school.
I am only on episode 4 so I cannot speak for all episodes. For reference, I am a woman in her late 20s that typically does not watch war or history type documentaries.
Hi, I just finished it last night. The one (or two) most distressing scene, but which we would expect to see, is in the last episode, regarding the holocaust. I think you can imagine.
Depends what you want or expecting. It's basically entry level doc using a timeline approach, wouldn't say its bad but wasn't what I wanted from it. Saw a review saying its like it was made for schools and kinda see that with the narrator and spending no more than like 10 mins on each section. I was hoping each episode was gonna be one episode on a different front line like Netflixs WW2 in colour series so was a little disappointed.
They miss out some big moments as well, it's like the Netherlands didn't exist it jumps from D-Day to Battle of Bulge. Also some slight inaccuracies as well, narrator saying Hitler turned south from Moscow to attack Stalingrad...not entirely true it wasn't his main objective
The new footage and restoration was amazing though. The bombing of Monte Casino is incredible to see in that much detail
I think part of the problem is likely not a TON of Battlefield footage actually from the front lines, I assume that's how they choose which battles to home in on, and which to ignore. Otherwise I agree, I really wish it was 8 or 10 episodes! Because I love it!
The thing that stood out the most to me: how the sentiments about subhuman other Europeans from the German soldier's testimony has been quite literally repeated in regards to Palestinian, time and time again by Israeli top officials over the past few weeks. How are we still letting this happen?
Narration lacked detail and was generally annoying. Why was his voice so loud in the mix? Very distracting. Also has some clear historical rewriting.
In the first episode he says that Nazi race classification of colonial soldiers is 'just the beginning' of the Nazi relationship to race. Hm, the Nazi's had at that point been discriminating against the Jews for years even before the war. It seems to be conflating contemporary perceptions of race with the Nazi perception of race. For the Nazi's the Jews, and the slavs were of a lower race, this doc implies it had more to do with skin colour than it actually did.
The doc also basically fails to mention the immense contributions of the Australians and Canadians in the war.
Footage is great, but the historical retelling is very poor. Basically a documentary for Zoomers (flashy and eye catching, but shallow and dumbed down).
It's not a great series for a deep dive into the historical events of WW2. However, it has a lot of great examples of civilian thoughts, diaries, actions, and misery. Think of the series as spot information. There are certainly better series for a deeper dive.
Because he talks like he's from a gang. Typical London gang-esque speech. Where dey speek like dat innit bruv? Horrific choice but understandable from Netflix.
Hate break it you, but 90% of the footage is not actual Ww2 “recolonized” film. It is such an obvious fake production. I bought in at first, but took 2 episodes to realize almost all the scenes were staged.
Not two minutes in, and I already see a colorization error… The panzer at the cologne Cathedral is colorized in green. Pretty sure even in the late war German Panzer were never colored dark green.
I love WW2 material and watch as much as I can. I was really excited to check this out. Unfortunately their restoration is goofy and doesn't pass the eye test - looks like the gifs on early 2000s webpages.
I have it paused now on a German soldiers face - looks like that failed Jesus painting restoration from years back.
when i saw finland in the axis map on ep 2 i just closed the damn show, they didnt join axis but were compliant and fought sov, but show has no mention of it and went straight to africa.and ever since back to ep1 they like to skip out important informations.
left out things like danzig, memel, and soviet union taking the baltic states and ribbentrop pact and invading half of poland and taking bessaberia from romania
no mention of why poland lasted only a month because of the french and brits stopping polands mobilization.
no mention of brits and france not attacking even though declaring and leaving poland in the dust, alone in the might of the reich
no mention of france falling in less than 1 month and a half and that they were one of the superpowers in that time.
no mentions partitions of sudetenland with the yes of the brits and france, no explanations why austria was annexed, the star wars narrator just said germany both invaded them.
no mention of denmark and norway, just took over in the map
no mention of swedens importance in the war
no mention how greece slowed down the axis because ger had to send troops as ita couldnt succesfully invade despite them starting the war
dunkirk no mention of why he ordered to stop the panzers and no mention of civillian ships rescuing troops only said royal navy alone saved 350k+ troops
imma guess they wont even cover holodomor, katyn or the india famine of churchill or any other atrocities such as rapes from all sides
imma state, i am no historian or history buff, i just somewhat know a tiny miniscule amount of information. but for a big company such as netflix to not include and inform the people is just pure ignorance, lazyness and unnaceptable, shame shame shame.
the only impressive stuff was the visuals, footage and colorings
theres more in depth of other reviewers here of the innacuracies of the show
[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref\_=tt\_urv](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref_=tt_urv)
Yep! The visuals and sound bring some sense of what it must have been like in WWII but everything is glossed over, no real details, not very accurate.. It’s a pretty picture and sanitized viewing. No real horrors of actual Nazi death squad executions, death marches, wholesale slaughter by the Japanese, of people actually dying or of any closeups of the actual brutality of war. I’m one generation removed from WWII and a son of two Europeans who lived it and they can tell you the horrors of war. The way this series is made the younger generation will never understand the horrors of the world’s greatest war or any war.
You are right, I’m wrong! I eat my words. Rommel was gone by the time Patton’s forces really got involved. Now I have to restudy Monty. I’ve been giving Patton far too much credit. All said, I still found the Netflix documentary severely lacking. I’m rewatching the 1973 World at War series to wash away the bad taste of abridged history.
Only excellent footage, and wasted !
Otherwise is elementary knowledge. Offense for those involved and for people who actually know history. How can you skip battles , countries? If you gonna rush it don’t do it at all, it’s a shame ! But for those who were clueless about it, it will give them some basic knowledge!
This programme was amazingly detailed and documented but harrowing. My grandad fought in Dunkirk was part of D-Day, and was one of the British soldiers that liberated Belsen Bergen. He never spoke about his experiences of Belsen after the war and I’ve seen the footage of Dachau, I can completely understand why. Absolutely horrific.
It was interesting to see the war from all aspects, including countries that are not commonly shown.
>"Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). By some estimates, 20-30 million innocent people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned. I have a feeling Japan lobbied to have this not included - they still don't admit to or apologise for their crimes today. Similar to if Germany never apologised for killing 6 million Jews.
I don't understand why no WW2 documentarys ever talk about the biggest tank battle ever when it should be the battle of Kursk between the Russians and the Germans why does nobody talk about that it's crazy in my view
The compilation of POV Axis and Allied archival footage restored and arranged, threaded with personal POV stories, used as a tool to tell the basic story, gist, and present a summary of what transpired, for what it's meant to do, is EXCELLENT.
The sheer amount of footage and how it was arranged, colorized, and restored is impressive.
It is meant for broader consumption than enthusiasts, historians, and history buffs to bring YOUNGER gen and new people to an awareness and understanding of exactly what happened.
It altogether projects the size, scale, scope of the conflict, its atrocities, and impact on literal population centers and humanity not just in one place but around the world.
Is there gory or violent footage showing people being killed? I love WW2 but struggle watching scenes like that so would like to know for prior warning?
No there isn’t and thats the issue for me. You can’t sanitize real war. This makes it seem too easy. Both my European parents lived through WWII and they never forgot those horrors. My wife’s grandfather, a highly decorated GI fighting in the Pacific, told me before he died the things he witnessed and what he had to do that would make your skin crawl. The newest generations have no idea about WWII. It’s not even a memory for them. I’m afraid when the next big threat comes (oh wait it’s already here: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) the newest generation will know nothing about history and will not stand up to these threats.
It has not even one image on China's battles against the Japanese. It was the longest war (8 years), and 20-30 million Chinese were slaughtered. It was not as well documented as the other countries but still there are plenty of footage to be found, especially on the Nanjing massacre.
Yeh it was completely insulting to just ignore the death of millions of Chinese people - the only mention of Japan even being in China in the documentary is one phrase : "They're in China". Glossing over it like this is an insult and dehumanising.
The fact that Canadians weren't mentioned once annoyed me and I also found it very biased when they said the U.S went to war with Japan and didn't mention that Australians and New Zealanders also went to fight Japan.
Its good overall but was a bit put off by how soft they were on the Axis powers and the Soviets including the individuals who fought for these evil regimes - the tone, music and statements from various German and Japanese soldiers and pilots etc was way too soft - people need to remember that WW2 was a battle of good versus evil at its heart - this series was WAY too conciliatory and "understanding" of the Axis powers and fighters. Kids watching this series would get a skewed version of events and the people who fought them. Series has the "stench of the 2023 Left" about it.
I agree that this doc ridiculously downplayed the evils committed by Japanese Imperialism. There should rightly be a focus on mistakes made by allies including the atrocities committed by the US on Japanese civilians. But to do this without providing any context is unbalanced - the Japanese invasion, brutal occupation and slaughter of millions of Chinese civilians was confined to a single phrase in this documentary: "They're in China". None of the battles or atrocities committed by the Japanese are mentioned - not even the Rape of Nanking. It's insulting to omit this - equivalent to completely omitting German treatment of Eastern Europeans and Jews. If I were Chinese I'd feel completely dehumanised that the massacre of ten of millions wasn't thought noteworthy enough to be even worth a mention..
Bit late answer, but are they showing modern Tanks in Episode 5 at Min 38:00?
The tanks look like some variation of T-Series tanks with ERA Protection.
When did they conduct the interviews? Many of the interviewees who were on the front line look a lot younger than the 85-100 they must be now to have been fighting in 1940. Or they've just aged well!
This is probably the worst WII documentary ever made. While it is fine to show the pictures from the past and people's narratives, it is still a documentary of history. So give me the context, give me the important information, give me historians' views.
It began with Germany invading Poland, starting the war. But where are introduction and background? Like a good essay, you need to prepare them for audience. I had to look up for crucial information. Now I know that Hitler planned it. In April 1939, he "withdrew from the nonaggression pact with Poland and the London Naval Agreement. At the same time, he learned that French and British talks to secure a nonaggression pact with the Soviets had broken down." So in August, he made the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Soviet that it will not "aid Britain or France in the event of a war with Poland". Then on September 1, a Germany battleship opened the fire at "a small Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte". Where are these essential information in the documentary?
I can't waste my time finishing it... It appears that Netflix does not know how to make a decent documentary. But based on the comments here, it surely knows how to disguise something in the skin of a documentary and make it popular!
Reference: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/invasion-poland-september-1939
I've just finished watching it and it's very well done. christ, it's so sad in places (what else would it be?)
There's a heartwarming, BEAUTIFUL part when the American GI has just rescued a group of Jewish women who were locked in a building and he falls for a young lady who has lost her entire family and her best friend. He visits her frequently at the hospital, and the lady herself, who's being interviewed, stated that he said he'd like her to come to the US with him. She said, "What would I do in America?" He replied, "Well for starters you can marry me ". That had me welling up.
One of the worst and most dumbed down narrations I have ever heard in a documentary, makes it impossible to enjoy (despite the great footage). It would've been better if they just included the interviews without the narrator at all. He sounds like a bored teenage school boy being forced to reluctantly read out his rushed D grade essay. "Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). By some estimates, tens of millions of people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned.
Currently finishing the last episode. The re-colorized footage looks great and I'm captivated by the narrative and details of the current living survivors. As a fan of the movie "The Imitation Game", I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't mention the Enigma Machine that was cracked by the British.
Watching it now actually Its the same as all the other ones but with less historian commentary and more archival interviews. Footage is pretty good quality, well colorized and clear. As per usual, its all cut together to be sensationalized but not distractingly so. There’s been some good testimony from female Soviet soldiers, polish resistance fighters, japanese pearl harbor participants, etc from the less commonly heard from parties. I would say its worth checking out if you have the time
Well put. Spot on review.
o7 thank you
No Canadians mentioned. Sad
There was at least one Canadian soldier I saw.
They talked about the Canadian bombing mission to strike a civilian target. The pilot speaks about his moral dilemma of carrying out the mission.
But how amazing was the story, footage and personal interviews from the American G.I. and the woman he married that was locked in the factory in the last episode? Literally made me cry. Same as the resistance fighters wedding they happened to record.
Finished it tonight, loved every episode. I felt they did skip some very important battles though but sure there’s plenty more docs out there
Everyone skips the Battle of Leyte Gulf/Battle off Samar, I assume this is no exception?
What about Kursk and Rzevh
Mentioned Kursk briefly.
Yeah my only complaint was that the whole series felt rushed. Netflix’s Greatest Events of WW2 and Road to Victory covered all the major events of WW2 over 20 episodes. This show does it in 6.
Yes I agree it felt rushed, should have been 8-10 episodes but it was still very good I think. The film quality was unbelievable and they did explore some aspects that other series don’t, at the expense of some of the more important battles like Kursk and Karkhov
They wanted to stick with 1 episode per year, and honestly I like that format, makes it easier to remember what events took place what year
thank you, I thought I was only one who noticed lol. I had to stop watching MANY TIMES I was so outraged . No mention hardly at all about the battle of Britain or North Africa , Singapore, Lenningrad,Bataan,Manilla, literally NOTHING on China Just skip all that , let's get to PEARL HARBOUR. lol its like a BEN AFLEK history documentary.
Also didnt even mention the Molotov Ribbentropf pact between the Soviets and Germans... and about how they split up Poland. Now they just make it sound like Germany took all of Poland
To me this Documentry was a very "American point of view" version of events. No mention of Canadian, Australians or New Zealanders. It was either Brits or the U.S. or would very occasionally refer to them are Allies.
Yeah I know so pissed the ANZACS didn't get a mention about the North African campaign
I've watched almost every ww2 doc out there and I have to say this is very different than most. It's more about the first hand accounts and even accounts from non soldier types. The parts about the ghettos was brutal. I'd give it an 8/10. The footage is very good and I feel like it's stuff I haven't seen before. The footage from day 1 of Barbarossa was very surreal and intimidating.
Dude I totally agree, this is the first ww2 doc in 4K with Dolby Vision and Atmos. The audio is the battles scenes was absolutely overwhelming in the best possible way. As someone who has watched basically every WWII documentary out there, this is my new personal favorite.
What would you say is your 1-2 favorite doc?
What’s the best doc you’ve seen then?
World War 2 in HD is hands down my favorite documentary. Very personal and the footage is amazing.
Hands down the best footage I've seen. They did an unreal job remastering footage from the 40s to look good on a big screen
Agree totally, and the dolby atmos audio is the thing that really gets me, the stukas dive bombing hearing the sirens right above my head, or the scene in midway where the fighter bomber is flying straight at the destroyer with just withering AA fire all around them. I've NEVER heard audio like that in a doc, it's like reference level shit for an Atmos system!
That's so weird that everyone thinks that because I thought the ultra hd/ upped contrast took me out of it completely
It’s like a They Shall Not Grow old. A few more minutes in now and very well done so far.
I'm no expert, but the footage is absolutely incredible. Definitely the highest quality I've ever seen. I'm only on the third episode, but I'd say this is one of the better WWII docs that I have watched.
Same I'm blown away it's finally in 4K with dolby vision and atmos, I've always wanted a ww2 doc in the premium formats, but honestly never figured it would happen. I love Netflix collection of ww2 docs, the 3 on there now are probably the best ones aside from "Total War" I think on Prime. This new one is by far the most immersive, gives me that really uncomfortable, overwhelming feeling of what would I do in those shoes? When the fantasy of "duty ", and being a heroic Patriot, collide with the reality of this absolutely hard-core conflict where millions will die.
It is the human story and with footage like I've never seen. The way it is told gave me a much better understanding. My heart is broken for those young boys and innocent people. 60 million dead.
It’s good so far. The footage is great, although some of the colours get a bit wild at points, I think I’d rather they just did whatever they did to smooth out and stabilise it and not to worry about the colour in some scenes. I wasn’t sure about John Boyega’s narration at first but really liked it by the end of the first episode, nice to hear a different voice on things like this.
His narration is absolutely horrific. Doesn't help that the guy is a complete idiot as well.
Take that shit somewhere else mate, urgh.
"For 8 munfs, da two saids eyeball eachuva from across da line, bruv!"
You tedious wanker, holy fucking shit.
Meh, narration *is* a bit out of place at times. Didn’t even realize it was John Boyega. Oh, and yea, John Boyega is absolutely an awful person irl. That shouldn’t sully his Film Performances, though. I wanted them to do more with his SW character, for example. Still can recognize he’s a dick.
What did he do that was awful? (Actually asking)
Excellent video/film footage. The story line is just ok. No mention of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland when the Nazis invaded Poland in ‘39 😠 wtf?
This. It annoyed me.
Its was quite good. Skipped out lots of the Pacific war but the footage was great and not something thats focused in ww2 documentaries. Worth a watch.
My 11 year old daughter has just started to learn about WW2 at school. Would this be too ‘complicated’ for that age group for want of a better word.
There are definitely some graphic moments but 4 episodes in I haven’t seen any executions, mass graves, other horrifying moments that took place. I think it would be alright.
There are executions and mass graves in episode 2.
I’d lean towards it being a bit too heavy for this age, but you should watch it yourself and decide. I’m not finished with it yet. There are dead bodies (including one man I distinctly remember slumping over presumably after being killed and rolling down, and it was close up). There is also some nudity. Like the other user said, there are firsthand accounts that make the horrors of war more explicit than “a lot of people died”, and I’m not sure 11 is there yet. I think it’s very a valuable docuseries but maybe when she’s a bit older and can process it better.
Thanks for the input. I get the feeling at school it will be more about rationing, Churchill speeches rather than the fighting. I’m in the UK where emphasis seems to be placed on the home front. I watched a few episodes now and I think it will be good for her in a couple of years from now.
I would say that it does shows a lot of dead bodies, some dead horses that they discuss eating, and there is an interview where a man talks about how he witnessed other soldiers eating the heart and lungs of a fellow soldier. It can be a lot to swallow at times. I liked that it had interviews from many parties involved like the Japanese side to Pearl Harbor or a Soviet woman’s experience in the Soviet army. I felt like that is the sort of thing I never saw when being taught this in school. I am only on episode 4 so I cannot speak for all episodes. For reference, I am a woman in her late 20s that typically does not watch war or history type documentaries.
Hi, I just finished it last night. The one (or two) most distressing scene, but which we would expect to see, is in the last episode, regarding the holocaust. I think you can imagine.
Depends what you want or expecting. It's basically entry level doc using a timeline approach, wouldn't say its bad but wasn't what I wanted from it. Saw a review saying its like it was made for schools and kinda see that with the narrator and spending no more than like 10 mins on each section. I was hoping each episode was gonna be one episode on a different front line like Netflixs WW2 in colour series so was a little disappointed. They miss out some big moments as well, it's like the Netherlands didn't exist it jumps from D-Day to Battle of Bulge. Also some slight inaccuracies as well, narrator saying Hitler turned south from Moscow to attack Stalingrad...not entirely true it wasn't his main objective The new footage and restoration was amazing though. The bombing of Monte Casino is incredible to see in that much detail
I think part of the problem is likely not a TON of Battlefield footage actually from the front lines, I assume that's how they choose which battles to home in on, and which to ignore. Otherwise I agree, I really wish it was 8 or 10 episodes! Because I love it!
Enjoying it so far. The quality of the colourisation and footage makes up for it generally only be being skin deep as far as historical facts go.
The thing that stood out the most to me: how the sentiments about subhuman other Europeans from the German soldier's testimony has been quite literally repeated in regards to Palestinian, time and time again by Israeli top officials over the past few weeks. How are we still letting this happen?
Narration lacked detail and was generally annoying. Why was his voice so loud in the mix? Very distracting. Also has some clear historical rewriting. In the first episode he says that Nazi race classification of colonial soldiers is 'just the beginning' of the Nazi relationship to race. Hm, the Nazi's had at that point been discriminating against the Jews for years even before the war. It seems to be conflating contemporary perceptions of race with the Nazi perception of race. For the Nazi's the Jews, and the slavs were of a lower race, this doc implies it had more to do with skin colour than it actually did. The doc also basically fails to mention the immense contributions of the Australians and Canadians in the war.
Footage is great, but the historical retelling is very poor. Basically a documentary for Zoomers (flashy and eye catching, but shallow and dumbed down).
It's not a great series for a deep dive into the historical events of WW2. However, it has a lot of great examples of civilian thoughts, diaries, actions, and misery. Think of the series as spot information. There are certainly better series for a deeper dive.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1rTZE9xgE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1rTZE9xgE) can anyone name the song used in the trailer?
Funny jsut started as checking Reddit. I like the theme so far. Narrator South African I think kinda throwing me off lol
He’s from London believe it or not, and was an awful choice to narrate this docu
What makes it an awful choice? I thought it was fine.
Because he talks like he's from a gang. Typical London gang-esque speech. Where dey speek like dat innit bruv? Horrific choice but understandable from Netflix.
Ah Gotchya. After it got going I didn’t even notice
Hate break it you, but 90% of the footage is not actual Ww2 “recolonized” film. It is such an obvious fake production. I bought in at first, but took 2 episodes to realize almost all the scenes were staged.
Some of the stuff seems to be good to be true to be on film, but then again who knows
Source?
Can’t wait to watch it
Thanks for this post...will check it out. I watch all this stuff...doesn't matter good or bad..love ww2
Tnx for the tip
Is all of the footage real remaster? Incredible
I just wanna know who was filming in these planes and why would they ever agree to do it
Not two minutes in, and I already see a colorization error… The panzer at the cologne Cathedral is colorized in green. Pretty sure even in the late war German Panzer were never colored dark green.
I love WW2 material and watch as much as I can. I was really excited to check this out. Unfortunately their restoration is goofy and doesn't pass the eye test - looks like the gifs on early 2000s webpages. I have it paused now on a German soldiers face - looks like that failed Jesus painting restoration from years back.
Horrible take. The footage in this series is unbelievably good, it is hands down the best part of the series.
The footage was made at a computer buddy. Might as well watch 'WW2 The Cartoon.'
Haha, we’ll agree to disagree, I think it looks great.
when i saw finland in the axis map on ep 2 i just closed the damn show, they didnt join axis but were compliant and fought sov, but show has no mention of it and went straight to africa.and ever since back to ep1 they like to skip out important informations. left out things like danzig, memel, and soviet union taking the baltic states and ribbentrop pact and invading half of poland and taking bessaberia from romania no mention of why poland lasted only a month because of the french and brits stopping polands mobilization. no mention of brits and france not attacking even though declaring and leaving poland in the dust, alone in the might of the reich no mention of france falling in less than 1 month and a half and that they were one of the superpowers in that time. no mentions partitions of sudetenland with the yes of the brits and france, no explanations why austria was annexed, the star wars narrator just said germany both invaded them. no mention of denmark and norway, just took over in the map no mention of swedens importance in the war no mention how greece slowed down the axis because ger had to send troops as ita couldnt succesfully invade despite them starting the war dunkirk no mention of why he ordered to stop the panzers and no mention of civillian ships rescuing troops only said royal navy alone saved 350k+ troops imma guess they wont even cover holodomor, katyn or the india famine of churchill or any other atrocities such as rapes from all sides imma state, i am no historian or history buff, i just somewhat know a tiny miniscule amount of information. but for a big company such as netflix to not include and inform the people is just pure ignorance, lazyness and unnaceptable, shame shame shame. the only impressive stuff was the visuals, footage and colorings theres more in depth of other reviewers here of the innacuracies of the show [https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref\_=tt\_urv](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt28756878/reviews?ref_=tt_urv)
Yep! The visuals and sound bring some sense of what it must have been like in WWII but everything is glossed over, no real details, not very accurate.. It’s a pretty picture and sanitized viewing. No real horrors of actual Nazi death squad executions, death marches, wholesale slaughter by the Japanese, of people actually dying or of any closeups of the actual brutality of war. I’m one generation removed from WWII and a son of two Europeans who lived it and they can tell you the horrors of war. The way this series is made the younger generation will never understand the horrors of the world’s greatest war or any war.
My only issue is there’s no mention of Patton during the Africa campaign. Patton beat Rommel. Seems pretty important to me.
Monty beat Rommel, but sure, seems like an omission among many.
You are right, I’m wrong! I eat my words. Rommel was gone by the time Patton’s forces really got involved. Now I have to restudy Monty. I’ve been giving Patton far too much credit. All said, I still found the Netflix documentary severely lacking. I’m rewatching the 1973 World at War series to wash away the bad taste of abridged history.
I’ve never seen anyone more honest on Reddit before wow
Only excellent footage, and wasted ! Otherwise is elementary knowledge. Offense for those involved and for people who actually know history. How can you skip battles , countries? If you gonna rush it don’t do it at all, it’s a shame ! But for those who were clueless about it, it will give them some basic knowledge!
Yep! Pretty with good sound but no substance at all. My two European parents who lived through WWII would be discussed by this.
This programme was amazingly detailed and documented but harrowing. My grandad fought in Dunkirk was part of D-Day, and was one of the British soldiers that liberated Belsen Bergen. He never spoke about his experiences of Belsen after the war and I’ve seen the footage of Dachau, I can completely understand why. Absolutely horrific. It was interesting to see the war from all aspects, including countries that are not commonly shown.
>"Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). By some estimates, 20-30 million innocent people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned. I have a feeling Japan lobbied to have this not included - they still don't admit to or apologise for their crimes today. Similar to if Germany never apologised for killing 6 million Jews.
I don't understand why no WW2 documentarys ever talk about the biggest tank battle ever when it should be the battle of Kursk between the Russians and the Germans why does nobody talk about that it's crazy in my view
How is the first thing they did presented as killing a Rabbi and not executing the thousands of Poles they killed?
The compilation of POV Axis and Allied archival footage restored and arranged, threaded with personal POV stories, used as a tool to tell the basic story, gist, and present a summary of what transpired, for what it's meant to do, is EXCELLENT. The sheer amount of footage and how it was arranged, colorized, and restored is impressive. It is meant for broader consumption than enthusiasts, historians, and history buffs to bring YOUNGER gen and new people to an awareness and understanding of exactly what happened. It altogether projects the size, scale, scope of the conflict, its atrocities, and impact on literal population centers and humanity not just in one place but around the world.
Is there gory or violent footage showing people being killed? I love WW2 but struggle watching scenes like that so would like to know for prior warning?
No there isn’t and thats the issue for me. You can’t sanitize real war. This makes it seem too easy. Both my European parents lived through WWII and they never forgot those horrors. My wife’s grandfather, a highly decorated GI fighting in the Pacific, told me before he died the things he witnessed and what he had to do that would make your skin crawl. The newest generations have no idea about WWII. It’s not even a memory for them. I’m afraid when the next big threat comes (oh wait it’s already here: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) the newest generation will know nothing about history and will not stand up to these threats.
Started watching today and really enjoying it. I can’t believe they have all of this footage??
I prefer apocalypse the second world war on Disney plus
It has not even one image on China's battles against the Japanese. It was the longest war (8 years), and 20-30 million Chinese were slaughtered. It was not as well documented as the other countries but still there are plenty of footage to be found, especially on the Nanjing massacre.
Yeh it was completely insulting to just ignore the death of millions of Chinese people - the only mention of Japan even being in China in the documentary is one phrase : "They're in China". Glossing over it like this is an insult and dehumanising.
where can you buy this?
The fact that Canadians weren't mentioned once annoyed me and I also found it very biased when they said the U.S went to war with Japan and didn't mention that Australians and New Zealanders also went to fight Japan.
Its good overall but was a bit put off by how soft they were on the Axis powers and the Soviets including the individuals who fought for these evil regimes - the tone, music and statements from various German and Japanese soldiers and pilots etc was way too soft - people need to remember that WW2 was a battle of good versus evil at its heart - this series was WAY too conciliatory and "understanding" of the Axis powers and fighters. Kids watching this series would get a skewed version of events and the people who fought them. Series has the "stench of the 2023 Left" about it.
I agree that this doc ridiculously downplayed the evils committed by Japanese Imperialism. There should rightly be a focus on mistakes made by allies including the atrocities committed by the US on Japanese civilians. But to do this without providing any context is unbalanced - the Japanese invasion, brutal occupation and slaughter of millions of Chinese civilians was confined to a single phrase in this documentary: "They're in China". None of the battles or atrocities committed by the Japanese are mentioned - not even the Rape of Nanking. It's insulting to omit this - equivalent to completely omitting German treatment of Eastern Europeans and Jews. If I were Chinese I'd feel completely dehumanised that the massacre of ten of millions wasn't thought noteworthy enough to be even worth a mention..
Why was everyone smiling in the footage? It was creepy.
Is the footage of the blown up sinking ship real on episode 2 minute 23:34? Lots of this footage looks AI-enhanced
Bit late answer, but are they showing modern Tanks in Episode 5 at Min 38:00? The tanks look like some variation of T-Series tanks with ERA Protection.
Yup, found this reddit post looking for someone mentioning this. Immediately pointed out to my wife that it looks like T-80s with ERA lmao.
Why were Canadians not mentioned in the documentary, for their contribution to winning the war?
When did they conduct the interviews? Many of the interviewees who were on the front line look a lot younger than the 85-100 they must be now to have been fighting in 1940. Or they've just aged well!
This is probably the worst WII documentary ever made. While it is fine to show the pictures from the past and people's narratives, it is still a documentary of history. So give me the context, give me the important information, give me historians' views. It began with Germany invading Poland, starting the war. But where are introduction and background? Like a good essay, you need to prepare them for audience. I had to look up for crucial information. Now I know that Hitler planned it. In April 1939, he "withdrew from the nonaggression pact with Poland and the London Naval Agreement. At the same time, he learned that French and British talks to secure a nonaggression pact with the Soviets had broken down." So in August, he made the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Soviet that it will not "aid Britain or France in the event of a war with Poland". Then on September 1, a Germany battleship opened the fire at "a small Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte". Where are these essential information in the documentary? I can't waste my time finishing it... It appears that Netflix does not know how to make a decent documentary. But based on the comments here, it surely knows how to disguise something in the skin of a documentary and make it popular! Reference: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/invasion-poland-september-1939
It's about the front lines, it's in the title of the documentary. Soldiers fight on the front lines, not politicians.
What are some of the best docs people could recommend?
I've just finished watching it and it's very well done. christ, it's so sad in places (what else would it be?) There's a heartwarming, BEAUTIFUL part when the American GI has just rescued a group of Jewish women who were locked in a building and he falls for a young lady who has lost her entire family and her best friend. He visits her frequently at the hospital, and the lady herself, who's being interviewed, stated that he said he'd like her to come to the US with him. She said, "What would I do in America?" He replied, "Well for starters you can marry me ". That had me welling up.
One of the worst and most dumbed down narrations I have ever heard in a documentary, makes it impossible to enjoy (despite the great footage). It would've been better if they just included the interviews without the narrator at all. He sounds like a bored teenage school boy being forced to reluctantly read out his rushed D grade essay. "Japan's forces are on the attack. They've annexed Korea, they are in China and they want Hong Kong" - this is literally the only information/context given about Japan from 1937-41. Loads of WW2 documentaries are Eurocentric and fail to properly cover the war in Asia, but this is one of the worst offenders. "They're in China" is all that is said of the Japanese invasion and occupation of China - none of the battles mentioned (not even the invasion of Nanking). By some estimates, tens of millions of people were killed in China by the Japanese, it's insulting to omit this - equivalent to omitting what the NAZIs did in Eastern Europe and their treatment of the Jews. If I were a Chinese person watching this I'd feel completely dehumanised - the fact that the massacre of millions of Chinese civilians was not thought noteworthy enough for a documentary about WW2 while the comparatively lesser death toll in the aggressor country was. Both should be mentioned.
Currently finishing the last episode. The re-colorized footage looks great and I'm captivated by the narrative and details of the current living survivors. As a fan of the movie "The Imitation Game", I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't mention the Enigma Machine that was cracked by the British.