The War

The documentary "The War", which was directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, was a very indepth look at WWII and the lives it effected. It is an acount of that war from the eyes of people who were there and also from the perspective of people who lived in the U.S. during that trying time. Their personal accounts along with the realtime war footage makes this a documentary that is very important and one that needs to be seen. As far as the asthecics go this was a very standard documentary, the war footage underlaid with naration and the cuts to the interviews with the people who were involved. The interviews sometimes would be the naration for the actual war footage which made the footage seem more real. The interviews were shot from a standard veiw which never shows the interveiwer and you never hear the actual question. The narator poses the question or the topic of discussion during the war footage and then the person being interveiwed answers that question or discusses the topic. The personal stories are what really make this piece such a powerful body of work. I was very moved by what I saw and I'm sure that other people felt the same way. This piece was made to be powerful and they definitely got it right, the personal stories combined with the actual war footage made this one of the best documentaries that I have seen in a long time. I think it was only right that PBS carry this show because it didn't need to be sensationalized by Hollywood, just a story that needed to be told. A lot of times when people get a hold of personal srories so powerful they try to inhance that power instead of letting it shine on it's own. I believe the laiter was done here there was a story to be told and they told it, no sensationalizing or adding on just the story. Actual accounts from people who were really there or actually living it. That is power because you believe them, it's not some actor trying to convince you but people doing the only thing they can which is describing what they saw or how they felt there is nothing more powerful than that.