The War gets a good review - an "unambiguously good" review, we might say

My own view of Ken Burns' series on the Second World War was not especially favorable, as I explained here in reviewing the seven episodes as they aired.

But it was popular, as David Wiegand observes in his review of The War for the San Francisco Chronicle 10/14/07:

The 15-hour documentary about World War II, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, drew a record number of viewers to PBS, and with good reason. With previously unseen archival footage blended with contemporary interviews with people whose lives were indelibly affected by World War II, the series challenges all that we think we know about the war. [What?!!!] By looking specifically at four American communities, including Sacramento, the series helps us understand how the war transformed the nation, both positively and negatively. While it is true that our definitions of duty and patriotism have evolved over time, our facile idea of World War II as being somehow morally unambiguous evaporates before the evidence to the contrary offered in "The War's" carefully detailed scenes. Most of all, "The War" isn't only about something that happened more than 60 years ago, it's about what the United States is today, and how much the world conflict shaped the nation's future. (my emphasis)

I can only ask, who in their right mind thinks any war is "morally unambiguous"?!?

This is a contribution to our knowledge of the Second World War? That the greatest slaughter (so far) in the history of the world, that killed tens of millions of human beings, was morally ambiguous? I certainly think that the United Nations/Allied cause in the Second World War was right and that it qualifies as a just war. But this boggles my mind to see that it apparently first dawned on this poor soul when he saw Ken Burns' documentary in 2007 that the war was other than "morally unambiguous". It amazes me that an adult would write such words for publication.

Just after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, President Truman's close adviser David Lilienthal said, "The fences are gone. And it was we, the civilized, who have pushed standardless conduct to its ultimate." A morally ambiguous situation, we might say.

Tags: ken burns, the war documentary

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