The World at War mainly focuses on the European theater, but episode 22 deals with how the Japanese lived through the war. Hitler and the Nazis get most of the attention, and that's probably why it's so interesting to see footage from Japanese propaganda films, including a re-creation of the Pearl Harbor attack with Godzilla-quality special effects. It's even more startling to see Japanese schoolchildren, living under a cultish military dictatorship, being trained for battle when they were barely out of diapers.
Even though the series ran over 22.5 hours in length, the producers were still left with hours of material that didn't make it into the finished product. Several supplementary episodes were produced for the DVD compilation, and while the great Olivier was no longer available to narrate, the material appears worthy of the World at War name. In particular, the two-part documentary Hitler's Germany, showing how ordinary Germans (Nazi and anti-Nazi) lived from 1933 to 1945, is a compelling look at one of the most completely totalitarian societies in history.
As a Canadian, I think my country - which punched well above its weight during World War II - isn't given the attention it deserves in The World at War. (That's the story of our lives, isn't it?) But this important, compelling series provides little else to complain about.
Article comments