So, Gentle Reader, have you been watching “The War?” The show has been running on PBS for over a week now and except for Sunday-last’s installment, I’ve watched it all. And I’ve mostly been impressed with the first-person accounts directors Burns and Novick have assembled. Really, the first-person narratives are what distinguish this particular documentary from all the others…and there have been many… about Big Bang Two. And there was an amusing example last evening…
I’m writing from memory, Gentle Reader, so I could be mistaken about the details in this particular anecdote. But, as I recall, the subject was jokes and Marine pilot Sam Hynes related what he recalls as the best joke from the war. He opened up with “the joke was visual…and you had to see it, not hear it.” “It was in the Officers Club bar on Kwajalein (or Enewetak?)… but anyway, behind the bar, mounted on a large plaque…like a marlin or a tarpon… was this huge brassiere. And underneath the brassiere was the legend…
‘Remember Pearl Olsen!’”
That may be a “you hadda be there” sort of moment for some of you, but most of us recall “Remember Pearl Harbor!” as the watch phrase during The Big One. Leave it to fighter pilots (or other flight crew members) to irreverently remind one and all what they were really fighting for…
One more thing about “The War” and then I’ll leave it go. One of the criticisms I’ve read in multiple places is how Burns’ anti-war views bleed thorough in this film. I definitely noticed one such example last evening during the segments on the fire-bombings of Dresden Tokyo Nagoya Kobe
Now if it had been me scoring that particular segment I’d have used this:
Yeah, I know: it’s been done before. So?
My criticism aside, watch the re-runs if you missed it the first time around. It’s more than worthwhile.
Hi Buck,
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to see the Burns documentary. I'll try to catch reruns one of these days. In the course of my work, though, I happened to run across this book that I'd really like to read on the subject you mentioned.
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. Russia's declaration of war was a factor that I had never considered.
R. Albin's review was well-stated, I thought.
Those reviews (and especially Albin's) were interesting, Bec. Thanks for the link...yet again!
ReplyDeleteI probably won't buy this book, but I'll keep my eye out for it at the base library. They have a very good selection of geopolitical and military works, as you might imagine.
P.S. I'm watching Ken Burns and Lynn Novick doing a "The War" postmortem on PBS' "Now," as I type. I might blog about this tomorrow. Then again, I might not. At least that twit Moyers is nowhere in sight. That's a plus.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen "The War", but the subject matter is very interesting tome. I'm feeling a bit out of it, lately.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen much t.v. at all the last few weeks. Last night I watched "Heroes" on the internet, the season premier and the 2nd episode that I missed the previous 2 Monday nights because I was out.
ReplyDeleteLaurie sez: Last night I watched "Heroes" on the internet,...
ReplyDeleteDang. Would that I could watch TeeVee on the 'net. I STILL don't have my fiber connection and am beginning to despair...
Lou: I dunno when "The War" goes into re-runs, but I'll watch it again when it does. It's that good. A few warts, yeah, but for the most part: very good.