World War II: From the Frontlines

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.

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. 👍

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.

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.

I didn't know what to expect when I started watching this. Now that I have finished, I can say that the video has been beautifully restored and colorized. This is perhaps some of the best WW2 video I've ever seen. That's probably my favorite part of the series.

John Boyega does a good job with the narration, but unfortunately there were a lot of inaccuracies in the storytelling itself. I wouldn't watch this series in a classroom setting.

One thing that really bothered me is how the entire series glosses over Japanese atrocities, especially in China and Korea. I don't recall anything being mentioned. The Japanese killed far more people than the Germans, but a huge segment of the video covers the genocide of the Jews, which is important, but nothing about the rape of Nanking.

I give this a six out of 10.