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War, The
MINISERIES: PBS, begins Sunday 9/23 at 8:00p

7.9 based on 31 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 17 votes read user comments rate this tv show

Get more information on this show at TV.com.

• Official Show Site

Starring Keith David (Narrator), Adam Arkin, Bobby Cannavale, Kevin Conway, Tom Hanks, Rebecca Holtz, Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Lucas, Carolyn Mccormick, Robert Wahlberg, and Eli Wallach

Ken Burns weaves together personal stories to bring viewers into his epic documentary about World War II.

GENRE(S):	Documentary, War
CREATED BY:	Ken Burns
FIRST AIR DATE:	September 23, 2007
LAST AIR DATE:	October 2, 2007

Aired over two weeks, beginning Sunday, September 23, 2007(four nights the first week and three nights the second week) from 8:00p to 10:00p (8:00p to 10:30p on three nights).

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Post Adam Buckman

This one succeeds at encompassing the entire scope of the Second World War by telling its story from the point of view of the Americans from all walks of life who went abroad to fight it, and the ones who participated in the war effort at home.

100

Christian Science Monitor Gloria Goodale

Ken Burns is back with The War, a film that could well be to this Iraq war-weary generation what "Roots" was for its time. That is, television that asks the right questions in the right moment (Can war be good? Is it ever necessary?) and rises to become a cultural landmark for future generations.

100

New York Daily News David Hinckley

It's the best thing he's done including "The Civil War."

100

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

The War is a remarkable storytelling feat and a visceral television experience, a twinned accomplishment that, combined, does the nearly impossible - it allows the rebirth of an overly familiar story and freshens it in astounding ways.

100

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

It has scope, intimacy, insight, emotional impact and a relentless narrative drive that never flags over its 15 hours.

100

USA Today Robert Bianco

There are works of TV art so extraordinary, all you can do is be grateful. With The War, gratitude abounds.

100

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

Quite simply, Ken Burns has created another indelible television triumph.

100

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

It isn't hype to call it one of the greatest achievements in U.S. television history.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

It is not political, pro-war or anti-war.

90

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Culling from published memoirs, his own interviews and countless thousands of feet of rare footage from combat photographers, he turns The War into something approaching a virtual-reality experience, always striking and often horrifying.

90

Baltimore Sun David Zurawik

Think Homer and The Iliad, and you'll have a pretty good sense of the kind of spectacular storytelling ride The War offers across seven evenings on PBS starting tonight.

90

Newsday Verne Gay

The War is magnificent and a triumph in every conceivable way.

90

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

It took longer to produce than the U.S. spent fighting the war, but the result is nearly as glorious.

90

TV Guide Matt Roush

The War sets a standard by which future war documentaries will be compared.

80

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

The War is a landmark achievement, as comprehensive a visual and personal record as we’re likely get of the experience of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines during World War II.

80

Arizona Republic Randy Cordova

The War emerges as a moving, cohesive piece of work.

80

Boston Globe Sam Allis

There are inevitable nits to pick--length and dense scheduling for starters--but the production is, indisputably, a major achievement for Burns and his codirector and coproducer, Lynn Novick, who devoted six years to the effort.

80

Salon Heather Havrilesky

The War is finally here, and you won't be disappointed. As he did in his award-winning series on the Civil War, Burns showcases his knack for portraying enormous devastation in human terms.

80

LA Weekly Robert Abele

Perhaps the best thing about The War--the one that most blunts the greatest-generation flag-waving we've so often been subjected to when it comes to this period--is that when it isn't trying to tug at your heartstrings, it's psychologically grinding.

80

Time James Poniewozik

The War is harrowing and, at 15 hours, an endurance contest. But it makes vivid a tale worth retelling.

70

Washington Post Rick Atkinson

Burns rejects the "Good War" balderdash and has said that World War II "was in reality the worst war." This sensibility helps sustain a compelling, flawed gem of a documentary, which enriches our emotional comprehension of an event second only to the Civil War in its enduring resonance in the national character.

70

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

Enthralling, shocking, revealing, insightful, moving, but sometimes merely numbing, it is certainly worth your time as it spools out in seven, 2- or 21/2-hour increments.

70

Wall Street Journal Dorothy Rabinowitz

Mr. Burns's zealous effort to eradicate any hint of a "good war" aura has come at a cost to his series. Thanks to its scope and ambition, and above all to Americans introduced here--those who went to war and survived to speak for themselves and the others whose lives spoke for them--it is nonetheless a profound and moving work.

70

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

The tone and look of Mr. Burns's series, which begins Sunday on PBS, is as elegiac and compelling as any of his previous works, but particularly now, as the conflict in Iraq unravels, this degree of insularity--at such length and detail--is disconcerting.

70

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

The War doesn't so much exclude the many groups that are not explicitly represented as it does include all who served, and yes, all who stayed behind. It's a message diluted by these after-thought interviews.

70

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

For all its many flaws, it's an honest, fitfully successful attempt to make history breathe and to tell an oft-told story in a new way.

70

Variety Brian Lowry

This has the sense of a definitive work, one that will speak not only to the World War II generation but to those who have lived under the blanket of their sacrifice.

70

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

For all its flaws, it is still incredibly powerful and important television, a great work of art, a wonderful contribution to history--in short, obligatory viewing.

70

The New Yorker Nancy Franklin

At fifteen hours, The War is too much of a not good enough thing. A spark is missing--a spark that you almost always find in even the most unassuming documentary on the History Channel.

60

Slate Beverly Gage

The War, despite its graphic footage and remarkable personal testimony, is a relatively safe film, unlikely to offend anyone's political sensibility.

50

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

Some of it is moving, some enlightening, some frustrating, but all of it feels very, very long.

The average user rating for this tv show is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Irwin P gave it a1:
They undermine the heroism and sacrifice of the allied forces and emphasize that all war is bad. Patton get sonly a few minutes- but conditions in Mobile Alabama etc goes on forever, It appears politically motivated, bent on undermining the current administration, and sapping the willingness of Americans to take moral positions in world affairs and back them up with deeds not words. The evil nature of the Third Reich is grossly understated. The facts that some bombs fell off target, that D-day was difficult, and that some German prisoners were shot are given relative prominence over the courage and tenacity of the US military. Bin Laden would support the message.

Kat R. gave it a10:
"The War" needed to be made simply because of some of the comments I've seen here--and not just user comments. World War II was a war of insularity. If those who fought it and lived through it were insular, that was the way of the world at the time. Applying the cultural sensitivities of 2007 to 1941 is the height of folly. One has to respect the cultural climate of the times in order to understand World War II. Ken Burns needed to make this film because ignorance about WWII is so widespread. There aren't that many Gen. Xers who have seen World at War. I did, but my family has always watched PBS. A whole generation is growing up ignorant about this struggle, and that is terrifying. Burns made a film that illustrates war in all its ugliness--which some people need to see. He revisits old territory, yes, but through the eyes of personal experience. I think he succeeded utterly in this quest. World at War was a fine series. However, it told the story from a largely British perspective--appropriate, given the series was produced by the BBC. "The War" tells the story from the American viewpoint, also with eyewitness accounts. I feel "The War" is crucial viewing. So is "World at War."

Jeff W gave it a10:
A bit surprised on some neg reviews I read here but I personally thought it a great and fresh tellings of WWII. My father, uncles and cousins fought in WWII and this telling brings home their sacrifice. As for comparing it to another great series , The World at War, you may consider the lack of the personal accounting which this series brings. I give it a sad thumbs up. I am proud of what those patriots did for our country, for the world.

Jer b gave it a10:
Having seen most of the documentaries on WWII including the entire BBC's World at War, I had reservations about another one - even if it is by Ken Burns. After watching The War, I was impressed and thankful. At times, I felt as though I was listening to my own father talk about the war. And that was something he seldom did. Many of my father's comments went against the common held notions. It was reassuring to hear other veterans voice similar thoughts. I have always found it interesting that many of the veterans of the WWII that I have known rarely speak of it. I know my own father had nightmares for years after the war ended. In some ways, their reluctance to talk about what happened was an attempt to protect us from what they saw and often dreamed about. The War shows us how WWII affected everyone in different ways and how it changed the way Americans saw one another afterwards. The true gems of this documentary are the thoughts and insights shared by those chronicled in The War.

Richard B. gave it a9:
Not all things to all people, but an honest portrayal from a valid and transparent perspective -- that of four towns across America. Yes, choosing to adopt this perspective is American-centric, but so what? It does what it does with excellence.

James S. gave it a2:
Repetitive and dull. Guess what? It sucked to be killed in battle, and, it sucked to have someone killed in battle, especially if you were the mom or sis of said casualty. Oh, and the Nisei fighting for the USA ,while their families were interned in concentration camps felt conflicted. No, really seriously, they did. And in this startling fact, every ethnic group that fought for the US was the most highly decorated with most casualties suffered of any other unit in 'fill in the blank' here. Really this kind of historical treatment has been done into the ground. World at War by BBC, which was done 30 years ago beats this mediocrity into the canvas.

Robert R gave it a10:
It's again impressive that the best network on TV decided to broadcast a documentary of this caliber, as no network would in this age of ineptitude, illiteracy, and stupidity. The War's colossal breadth is miraculous. Its information is didactic. And its achievement as a television documentary is perennial. It's like a great New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh or David Remnick though its author this time, is the bodacious Ken Burns.

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