Netflix World War II Series Is A Must-See For History And Movie Buffs
Five Came Back tells the story of what happened when five of the greatest directors in cinematic history provide a first-hand perspective of World War II and is available for streaming on Netflix. The war likely is the single most historic event in world history and required a complete effort by the nations involved to win it. The United States was a relatively late entrant in the war, and virtually all hands responded to the call to support the nation.
Five Came Back
The five directors who created promotional films and other works include the man considered by many to be the nation’s best-ever director – John Ford.
The other directors were John Huston, William Wyler, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. The U.S. military allowed them to embed themselves with troops, sailors, and airmen in combat zones to document the fight for freedom.
Those promotional films included battles in the Pacific Theater of Operations, flying with the Eighth Air Force on bombing missions over Europe, and operations in North Africa and Europe. The films and shorts they made were genuine and intended to convey the reality of war as it then was fought.
The only exception was when a director missed the action to liberate San Pietro, Italy, and instead filmed a reenactment using the same troops who beat back the Nazis.
Current Filmmakers
Five Came Back tells the story of those directors and their efforts to capture the reality of war as it never was known before.
The experience caused many of them to undergo profound changes in how they viewed the United States that would emerge as the world’s most powerful military due to having the atomic bomb and the world’s most advanced naval and aircraft fleets. Five of the best current filmmakers view the respective directors’ works and provide their insights.
Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola are two of the five current directors who dissect the works of their predecessors in Five Came Back. The other three are Lawrence Kasdan, Guillermo del Toro, and Paul Greengrass. Actress Meryl Streep lends her talents as the narrator.
The First Two Parts
Five Came Back is a three-part look at the original films produced during World War II. Part one is entitled The Mission Begins and examines the motivation of each of the five legendary directors to participate in the one-of-a-kind endeavor.
Part two is Combat Zones, which examines how the U.S. military went about its business – including blatant bigotry against black soldiers and depictions of the Japanese soldiers versus the German foes.
The Price
The final chapter is The Price of Victory, which explores the effects on each director. The effects are much like those experienced by the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought the war.
One director became a heavy drinker after filming the D-Day landings, another witnessed post-traumatic stress disorder’s effects on combat veterans, another lost his hearing, and yet another experienced the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.
Stream It Now
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The documentary is an essential series for anyone interested in World War II and earned mostly high praise from critics. It also was nominated for two Emmy Awards partly thanks to the exceptional work of director Laurent Bouzereau and writer Mark Harris, whose 2014 book provided the title and background for the three-part TV work.
Streep won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator. Interested viewers can watch Five Came Back on Netflix, where they also can view the original works in Five Came Back: The Reference Films.
