14-The Great War Diaries: An Overview and a Review
"The Great War Diaries" is a rather new Dutch docudrama about World War I through the eyes of civilians and soliders, not the politicians and generals that made the stupid and fatal decisions that brought it about. Fourteen "main characters" and their diaries are the focal point, with excerpts from various other people's letters and diaries as well. It's an 8-part series in chronological order, but each episode has it's own emotional theme. Intercut with actors portraying the story and period footage, it is a rather moving and well-done documentary.
Like most US Americans, the education I got on WWI was pretty sparse, only touching upon US involvment. In college, I did have a course that explored it only nominally more in-depth.
In watching "The Great War Diaries," my impression is that WWI was basically a giant pissing contest where millions of people died over outdated values and because those in charge still clung to old-fashioned ideas of warfare which was exacerbated by modern technology. The main characters are all enlisted or drafted soliders and civilians, not politicians or generals. Propoganda on all sides fed the populace bullshit and called it chocolate. In watching the misery of these normal, everyday people, you realize why the 1920s was one giant party of fuck-all.
The only thing I didn't like about the documentary was the ending--it goes through all the names and photos of the characters with a birth and death date, but mentions nothing of what happened to them after the war (if they made it--a small spoiler, only one person dies during the war and I won't say who). A cursory Google search helps out after the fact, though most people were not noteworthy enough for that. A few go back to normalcy, but a few go on to do rather interesting things. Only one person--Kathe Kollwitz--was already well-known during the period.
If you want to watch something different about a war, I'd recommend this. It's available on Netflix.
Like most US Americans, the education I got on WWI was pretty sparse, only touching upon US involvment. In college, I did have a course that explored it only nominally more in-depth.
In watching "The Great War Diaries," my impression is that WWI was basically a giant pissing contest where millions of people died over outdated values and because those in charge still clung to old-fashioned ideas of warfare which was exacerbated by modern technology. The main characters are all enlisted or drafted soliders and civilians, not politicians or generals. Propoganda on all sides fed the populace bullshit and called it chocolate. In watching the misery of these normal, everyday people, you realize why the 1920s was one giant party of fuck-all.
The only thing I didn't like about the documentary was the ending--it goes through all the names and photos of the characters with a birth and death date, but mentions nothing of what happened to them after the war (if they made it--a small spoiler, only one person dies during the war and I won't say who). A cursory Google search helps out after the fact, though most people were not noteworthy enough for that. A few go back to normalcy, but a few go on to do rather interesting things. Only one person--Kathe Kollwitz--was already well-known during the period.
If you want to watch something different about a war, I'd recommend this. It's available on Netflix.