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- PBS
- Sep 18, 2022
- PBS
- Sep 18, 2022
Summary Narrated by Peter Coyote, the three-part documentry series directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein examines the United States' response to the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust through interviews, first-person accounts and archival footage.
- PBS
- Sep 18, 2022
- PBS
- Sep 18, 2022
Summary Narrated by Peter Coyote, the three-part documentry series directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein examines the United States' response to the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust through interviews, first-person accounts and archival footage.
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
96
100% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Burns's assiduous method of documentary-making never talks down to the viewer, uses gimmicks or assumes that they have short attention spans. It's one reason why his films are so compelling.
So no, we haven’t had enough stories about the Holocaust. And this one, from television’s greatest historians, is a masterpiece.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 User Ratings
6.3
58% Positive
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
8% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
33% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 36 User Ratings
6.3
58% Positive
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
8% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
33% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
The U.S. and the Holocaust stands as one of the most vital projects in Burns’ five-decade relationship with PBS. Smartly constructed and packed with avenues for future research and investigation, the three-night series may be the most viscerally affecting film to carry Burns’ name.
For all the darkness of the history, there is much that's irresistible about the six hours of this saga. ... The series' commentators deliver views that are pricelessly succinct. ... The eloquence of the script by Geoffrey C. Ward is everywhere evident, though never more so than in the sections on the Statue of Liberty and the words of poet Emma Lazarus. Familiar as they may be by now, their powers, as used here, approach the sublime. The same can be said for the heart that went into the writing of these six unforgettable hours.
Adding to Ken Burns’ legacy of classy historical fare for PBS, The U.S. and the Holocaust is documentary filmmaking with a purpose, a three-night production that directly links undercurrents of American society that influenced the decades featured to lingering strains of White supremacy and anti-Semitism. It’s fascinating as history, but sobering as current events.
Six emotionally demanding hours. ... Thorough history of the American response, and lack of it, to Germany’s criminal war on the Jews. ... Burns’ measured style — some would call it sleepy — does not always do favors to his subject. (“Jazz” was not very … jazzy.) But in this case, given the elegiac, tragic nature of the material, it feels entirely apt. ... “The U.S. and the Holocaust” becomes harder to watch as it goes on, for obvious reasons — it is unflinchingly graphic. ... Yet I don’t think it’s been made to be popular, but from a sense of mission.
This is unvarnished history that attempts to scratch away the surface myths – and it is well worth your time.
Really well done examine the ties to the American far right and ****. It has great footage and narration.
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SEASON 1
Why do American propagandists talk about the crimes of the vanquished, but keep silent about their own horrors? Carpet bombing of cities with civilians, mass **** and illegal sexual relations with German women, looting, murder and other crimes. All this was done by the Crusaders of Freedom and Democracy in Europe. And not only in Europe. Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and other countries occupied by the American army. Where are the films about this? And let's make another film about the horrors of bad fascists, completely silencing the lawlessness on our own side. It's unpatriotic!
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SEASON 1
