Greatest Events of WWII in Colour (2019) User Reviews

An absolute masterpiece

[bgessner7-429-599936 · 10/10 · 9 November 2019]

I stumbled across this late on a Friday night. The last war documentary that I'd seen was Peter Jackson's "They Shall Not Grow Old" and I had been yearning for a similar experience ever since. Well, safe to say-- I found it. This is an enthralling watch. The colorization of such massively historical events allows us viewers 70+ years later to empathize in an unimaginable way, and is careful enough to give us fresh insight into perspectives from both sides. Well done to all involved. Netflix in my opinion is hit or miss but this is without a doubt as good as it gets. Top class. A real tribute to the heroic men and women of that generation.

Side note: Pay no heed to the so-called political connotations suggested by other reviewers. Having watched the entire series through, my mind never once went there, I was too enraptured by the images and the quality on display. It in no way detracts from the documentary itself, if you're reading this prior to watching don't let such comments dismay you. I couldn't recommend this film highly enough.

Decent WW2 Documentary

[roondogbb · 9/10 · 13 November 2019]

Its so sad listening to so many butthurt complainers nitpicking at everything in this documentary. Honestly you could make a 30 or 40 part documentary series on ww2 and not even scratch the surface of the entire war and do every aspect and every service person justice. Those who complain that their country isn't mentioned... so what. You can't mention every damn country in detail.

I think this documentary series does a splendid job as acting as an introductory series to perhaps children/teenagers learning about ww2 for the first time. (then move on to books) Personally I knew most of the information but I enjoyed hearing it again with some coloured footage. The narrator is really easy to listen to and his commentary is mixed in with some war authors and some vetrans (who are becoming very very few, so these documentations of their experiences are essential)

A fascinating narrative of the most interesting events of WWII

[jonasleaparis · 10/10 · 10 November 2019]

From the beginning I was hooked. The way the show details the events, the strategies, the beautiful footage, interviews, etc was gripping and I binge watched the show over 2 days. It goes into the psychology of the most important people and what led to their decisions. It takes into account the culture of the individual countries at the time and is filled with suspense and twists. It was also very informative, I knew a little bit about WWII from high school classes, but this really helped fill in the gaps in a satisfying way. I feel like I've learned more than in the 2 days of watching this show than I would in a year of study. If you are slightly interested in the events of WWII and want a dramatic narrative of the most important events, this show is for you!

A little disappointing.

[mattmatthew-01656 · 15 November 2019]

This series main selling point, according to Netflix is "rare footage from around the world, expertly restored in full color, tells the story as you've never seen it before."

It's true. I've never seen it told with such inaccuracy.

From a purely narrated standpoint, it's not a totally bad documentary. It omits a TON, but makes up for it somewhat by revealing little known details and recollections from people who lived it.

My main beef with this series is that their main selling point is bs. The Dunkirk episode supposedly depicts Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers attempting to pick off English boats and ships in the channel supporting the British Expeditionary Force's evacuation of France. But the footage is not of Stukas, but some other aircraft I had some trouble recognizing. In the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire is mentioned frequently, but the footage is of Hawker Hurricanes, which was already considered obsolete by Spitfire standards by the Summer of 1940. However, the big aerial fight scenes depicting German He-111 medium range bombers and Bf-109E fighters engaging Spitfires over London, are actually re-enactments from the 1969 historical drama "Battle of Britain." The Bf-109Es were not actual Messerschmitts, even, but Spanish HA-1112 Buchons built after the war in the 1950s, that existed in flying condition in greater numbers than actual Messerschmitts, many of which were destroyed by the Allied and Soviet forces as they closed in on Berlin.

Often, substitute footage is used when authentic footage is unavailable or scarce. I get it though. The layman won't be able to tell the difference. What I didn't like so much was that Netflix is peddling this as "rare footage ... expertly restored in full color" -- which leads you to believe all of it, at the very least, is from the era in question, and it's been colorized to give a more accurate depiction of the war.

The final straw for me was a scene during the Pearl Harbor episode, which supposedly depicted Japanese dive bombers attacking Pearl Harbor, with the big red sun emblazoned on their fuselages. But this footage is actually of a US Navy dive bomber called the SBD Dauntless, its stars and bars "photoshopped out" and replaced with the rising sun of Japan. What the hell, Netflix? Top Gun did something similar, by reimagining the USAF F-5 Tiger as the fictious Mig-28, but I doubt any of us went into that theater thinking that this was anything more than RAD on steroids.

If you want to watch a really good documentary on WW2, Ken Burns's "The War" is a great choice. Also, the History Channel ran a terrific series called the "War Room" -- and instead of taking liberties with scarce historical footage, they supplemented their narrative with really neat graphic animations that talked about the tactics and strategies that either lost or won the battles. This Netflix series is a bit of clickbait, and a little bait and switch. There are so many better sources to learn about WW2.

Newer Material Adds to Comprehension of WWII Events

[sandyfoot · 10/10 · 13 December 2019]

Though I've studied WWII for much of my life, I found this series to be a good, concise description of key events. While it does not go into great depth, it still manages to pack in enough detail with empathetic insights from both Axis and Allied viewpoints. It's an excellent refresher or starting point for key events, which will hopefully engage the viewer to research further.

My only qualm was that the series ends abruptly, with no conclusion/summary. I'd be interested to see a 2nd season into the Cold War, as is hinted at the end of Ep.10.

3 Reasons to Watch This Film

[darren_bowden · 10/10 · 4 January 2020]

If you're someone who'd like to better understand WWII in a thoughtful, comprehensive, well-paced film... this is it.

And here are 3 reasons why:

It is totally captivating. I've seen countless films on WWII, but this moves with a pace that allows you to absorb the key events while gaining insight on why things happened the way they did. Although I've seen so many accounts of the war, this summarized it better than any other film in my opinion.

It's binge-worthy. I stayed up all night long watching this - much more engaging than the typical war documentaries that put us all to sleep. I will watch it again with my wife and I know she will like it because you're compelled to watch the next episode.

It's relevant. The approach they've taken - beautifully restored and colorized film combined with thoughtful accounts by historians and veterans - is to be commended and treasured. But more importantly, it reminds us of what people with bad ideas can accomplish when the rest of us stay silent. A timeless and painful lesson.

Boringly titled, but the footage is really outshown by the interviews

[photoe · 10/10 · 23 November 2019]

Honestly, the footage in the first two episodes of this documentary is NOT why you should be watching this series.

This series is English, and the narrator and script is first rate. The war historians and professors are also top notch. Add to that a few surviving veterans and some truly solid human interest stories about the top leaders, generals, on down to the soldiers and pilots, and it's a surprisingly emotional and beautifully produced documentary series.

This isn't as sterile and rote as many WWII documentaries, and it's certainly more about people than the title would have you believe. I almost didn't watch it because of the title, and to be honest, there is footage in here from films, modern re-enactments, and some colorized B&W as well. There is a majority amount of authentic color footage as well, much of it I've never seen before.

The documentary also seems to delve into the true motivations and machinations of various real events in WWII, and the invasion of France in particular included a lot of information which was new to me. I consider myself knowledgeable, but certainly not a scholar, but it was interesting to hear various facts and theories related by scholars I had not considered before.

The second episode is dedicated to a real veteran pilot of the Battle Of Britain who was interviewed for the episode. You really got the sense of heroism and duty from this clearly very aged but lucid survivor. The editing is fast paced but really easy to absorb.

Honestly, this was far better than I expected. This is up there with the much older World at War series that Olivier narrated, though it's hard to beat Olivier for gravitas. Still, this really is worth seeing for any history buff and good for newbies as well. To those discussing omissions, of course that is going to happen in such a hugely broad topic.

What also comes across quickly in this series, more so than in other series I've seen, is the unnecessary futility and outright stupidity of Hitler's goals and ambitions, and the tragic waste of the entire war. Whatever savvy innovations the Germans proved they had in the first 9 months of the war was clearly being squandered from Dunkirk on. The first episode also does gives the best explanation I've ever heard of explaining how and why the French folded.

Colour makes history increasingly vivid!

[pritol · 9/10 · 20 June 2020]

Whilst there are no startling revelations within this series, as the WW2 conflict has been covered by countless other documentaries, the colouring of the footage does bring the subject matter home in a far more relatable manner.

In fact some of the colouring is so good, you feel like you're watching something that could have been filmed in the last decade.

A must see for any modern history enthusiasts!

It's not supposed to be all encompassing

[jordankelly8 · 10/10 · 21 January 2020]

I've read a few reviews where people have been dissappointed that parts of WW2 have been missed. However, this show is about the 'greatest events' and is not intended to be a chronology. Fantastic footage which I really enjoyed.

What about the Aussies?

[brayden_wilson1 · 9/10 · 10 November 2019]

I love WW2 documentaries. However, the lack of respect shown to the diggers got to me. Australia entered world war 2 well before the USA. No mention of rats of Tobruk or Kokoda just to name a couple.

Overall the series had a great amount of knowledgeable information and footage.

Love it!

[nismopiston · 10/10 · 10 November 2019]

It's a great docuseries! Other reviews may try to pull in their own political agenda into it but just watch it and hear the facts and form your own opinion 10/10

Could be better .. missing details

[mahmoudothman · 8/10 · 31 December 2019]

Missing so much details and trying to focus on special events only and focusing as much as they can on very few events . May be trying to make us see something which I didnt understand because they negelected great events in WW2 with no reason

Question some decisions

[shelikoff · 7/10 · 27 December 2019]

First, in defense of the series against some of the review comments about the source of the video, just because you've seen it in a movie doesn't mean it's not real wartime footage. Older movies, before CGI, did that all the time to save money. For instance, we've all seen that crash of the plane onto the carrier deck in a movie or two, the one where it breaks in half and spins around. But it's real, not shot for a movie. Second, there's no way to cover everything important that occurred in WWII in 10 hours so obviously many important things will be left out. You can't cover the contributions of every country when so many participated so you pick the major combatants, etc. My main complaint is in many cases they cover some subjects in such a way as to focus on a more minor topic and leave out the major one. So many examples I can't list them all but here's just one: in the Battle of Britain episode they extensively cover the Spitfire without even a mention of the Hawker Hurricane when in fact there were many more Hurricanes used and Hurricanes were responsible for many more German losses than Spitfires. Yes, the Spitfire was the shiney new plane at the the time. But it's higher complexity meant lower percent availability of the smaller numbers of planes and the Hurricane's quicker turnaround time meant a single Hurricane could fly more sorties in a day. So why not take even 20 seconds to mention the most important British fighter in the Battle, especially the early stages?

Typical sensationalized documentary with wrong stock footage

[billsjunk · 4/10 · 25 January 2020]

1. It is an interesting documentary to watch but sacrifices clearness of information for a more interesting presentation. E..G. The Battle of Midway starts by mentioning the cryptographer suspecting Midway will be attacked but is not believed. Then after the documentary starts narrating events, it goes back to explain how the cryptographer found someone to believe him and how they positively determined the target was Midway.

2. Worse is the typical war documentary put together by uninformed producers looking for nice videos. They often include video of something completely unrelated to the present narrative--probably guessing the viewer doesn't know any more about the subject than they do. Unfortunately that leads to confusing material and the lack of credibility in the whole message. E.G. During the Battle of Midway, the narrative is discussing the B-17 (heavy 4-engine bomber) attack, but shows video of C-47 (two-engine transports) and some other mid-size two-engine bomber that clearly did not participate in this battle. Another example is including video of Japanese two-engine mid-bombers during the Pearl Harbor attack--only single engine aircraft were launched by the Japanese in this attack.

Fantastic and Riveting Telling of Events

[duke12687 · 10/10 · 4 December 2019]

This production is incredibly well done. The footage they have restored is simply phenomenal to watch. The story telling and narrator are fantastic. Well done.

The Nazis were not alone.

[saharlinuxdistro · 8/10 · 6 December 2019]

The episodes are truly expertly made, especially when it comes to specific events (which are the main topic of most episodes).

Naturally, a lot of information is missing, especially when it comes to the background about many many leaders as well as Nazi officers, and many more people who are integral for understanding the second world war. Viewing the TV show as mostly "battle. (i.e as a show focusing on explaining in detail the battles of the WW themselves rather than the motives behind them and the background that led to them) - I am very much fine with giving up these important details, especially considering the short show's length.

I would like to talk extensively about the problems I've had with the 9th episode, talking about the Holocaust. The entire episode is pretty poorly made, you can't try to explain the holocaust well enough in just under 50 minutes, it's just not enough. It'd be fine if the show didn't even make a single episode about the horrors of the holocaust, as I said, it's not the main purpose of the show. But if you are going to talk about the holocaust then you better do it well and 50 minutes just isn't enough, it is clearly noticeable in that episode that they just tried to cram far too much information in such a short time, and so many important details about the holocaust were left missing as a result.

Lastly, the position of the show feels morally wrong to me, trying to justify the allies' decision not to take action knowing the atrocities the jews went through. They obviously knew of the holocaust (though not to the extent of it perhaps) and they could have tried to at least offer refuge to jews (which as was explained, just wasn't the case) and do much more than that. The allies stood and did nothing about the holocaust because antisemitism existed in the entire world, and frankly no one gave a damn about the jews. The entire existence of Israel as a state is strongly believed to be a result of the blame counties felt for looking away from the holocaust in WW2 and voting in favor of founding Israel in resolution 181 of the UN. The allies' fault is nothing compared to cruelty of the Nazis, but standing aside and letting those horrors happen are also unforgivable.

A Great Docu

[bshaef-34229 · 9/10 · 14 November 2019]

All history teachers should be sent to re-education camps and taught how to tell the truth of wars. For instance, the use of drugs by the Nazi soldiers. I had no idea of that ever happening but after seeing the film I can understand it. Overall, even though I've seen most of this in one place or the other, it was absolutely the best WWII documentary I've seen. Don't think I'll ever have to watch another. Thank you Netflix. You are at your best with this.

Must watch

[jgardiner86 · 9/10 · 16 November 2019]

I watch alot of war documentaries and this is right up there with the best. The story is told very well, although episodes cover specific events it does a great job of painting the overall picture aswell. As a result it is a great watch regardless of your knowledge. Alot of detail is given and an extensive use of archival footage, some of which id never seen. To top it off they have done a beautiful job of remastering it in colour. While this isnt the first time it has been done it still makes thr viewing experience all the more gripping. A particular highlight (if you can call it that given the subject) was the Dresden episode. While i was aware of the events alot of the details and footage used i was unfamiliar with and it really gripped me. The documentary does a great job at covering both sides and highlighting smaller details often overlooked. The footage of how women were integral to the war effort and especially how Russia utilised women as soldiers and pilots was very interesting.The liberation of the concentration camps episodes is truly heartbreaking, the use of interviews is done tastefully and with great impact. Overall a very good, well rounded documentary that fulfils all criteria for anyone interested in the war.

A must watch documentary with a lot of beautifully restored footage.

[zahra-michael · 10/10 · 5 February 2021]

It's a really well made, well documented and well put together series. It's beautiful to watch all that history in colour and so well explained. For someone that like WW2 stories, like me, the show is amazing, there was so much details that I didn't know that happened and I was very impressed. Very well done to Netflix and all the people that put this documentary together.

Worth seeing

[kairisstavros · 8/10 · 23 November 2019]

Very good quality, learnt a few things I did not know. Does not cover all aspects of WWII. Seems objective.

A whole new and far more accurate take on history!

[Bee_F · 9/10 · 2 December 2019]

So... everything I learned in school was, once again, wrong! This is revelatory, similar time The People's History of The United States. By combining the viewpoints of scholars worldwide and reconciling them down to actual fact, a completely different picture emerges. New names become prominent while old heroes, and villains, recede to lesser import. And, one of the most important questions of the 20th and 21st centuries... "Why did the German people support Hitler?"... is brought into such clear focus that the answer seems quite simple. As so much has been said to compare certain modern politicians to Hitler and their regime to Fascism, the actual facts here draw a series of events, a mindset and national psycholog that much more ckerly elucidate where this is most concerning today.... and where it isn't. So worth seeing!

Fascinating !

[slaight25 · 10/10 · 19 November 2019]

If you're curious about WWII and aren't sure where to start or what to watch, I would 100% recommend starting with this. The whole series was completely captivating from first to last episode.

I've always been fascinated by WWII so I try to watch as many documentaries and mini-series as I can, and THIS one in particular is one of the best I've seen yet.

The way the footage and dialogue is edited together creates a straight forward narrative that makes the specific events they highlight very easy to understand, especially the factors leading up to the event.

This would be a great series to show in classrooms!

It was heading the right way until you find out there is just one episode or the eastern front!

[erikpienk · 7/10 · 11 November 2019]

I was having a good time watching this documentary and I learned a couple of new things even though I have watched hundreds of WWII documentaries. I was going for a 10/10 until I realized it talks like many other documentaries mostly about the western front.

I have to give props for the pacific episodes as I have only seen some facts of the Japanese intentions in WWII in Japanese documentaries and it was a fresh view from a western documentary. Sadly I realize the rest of the series focus on the same battles of the British and Americans as it has been covered hundredths of times in the past! D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Dresden, Buchenwald and again in the pacific Hiroshima. Where are the Russian battles?

By D-day in 1944, Russia already was on its way to Berlin.... the war was already won... No battle of Kursk, no St Pete, not the first discovery of the concentration camps actually done by the Russians, and not any other Eastern front battlefields that where more important to the war than the western front. Don't get me wrong that the US and British involvement in the war helped to end it early but as always we get the same story that the US changed the course of the war in D day.... we now have more facts and information on the matter and it is biased to focus only one side of the story because again the eastern front is dismissed as unimportant.

A historical series that fails the 4th-grade geography

[maciekmajrock · 3/10 · 26 February 2020]

It's quite incredible to see what kind of nonsense this series feeds to the audience. If you look at the map of Europe presented in this series (e.g. the one depicted in the first episode when presenting German territorial losses after the treaty of Versailles), especially looking at Poland, you will see borders that have never been a reality. It's a combination of the present and past borders with a fake East Prussia region put ontop of the current Polish borders. It is ridiculous to see this series not being able to get such simple facts straight.

A very good insight in some of the most dramatic events in WWII.

[davyjordens · 10/10 · 18 November 2019]

Far to often, people tend to forget the lessons taught by history. These episodes are especially interesting to young people whose curriculum at schools or colleges often neglect these important WWII events and more in general the dangers of modern populism.