If you have any interest in the air war over Europe during World War II, nothing comes close to this mini-series. The attention to detail is so outstanding that I want to go back and re-watch all of the aerial battles for a second time. The cinematography, special effects and sound are absolutely incredible.
This series shows the horrors of indiscriminate bombing of civilians on both sides of the war, which should hopefully educate those with a more naive view of who the real enemy was. This is important, because it has become fashionable in more modern times to demonize all Germans during WWII as blood thirsty Nazis but by 1945 only 8 million out of 80 million Germans actually belonged to the Nazi party. The historically accurate depictions of the Luftwaffe guards being less severe than the notorious SS guards was another refreshing change.
My main gripes include it being difficult sometimes to follow which B-17 is on screen at any time because it is hard to tell the actors apart with their oxygen masks on. An on screen text notification of the B-17's Nickname or it's Commander would have easily cleared things up when the action switches to a new Flying Fortress.
The next is that while this series has the most accurate and best portrayal of the Tuskegee airmen in any film or series to date, it is disappointing to see them shoehorned in again at the expense of other WWII fighter units who have never received any screen time and actually did fly with the 100th bomber group. Unlike the comically bad Red Tails, their depiction here is much more respectable but I found it an unrelated side story that took the series off track for a short time.
Regardless, this is a masterfully produced series that really needs to be seen to be believed.
This series shows the horrors of indiscriminate bombing of civilians on both sides of the war, which should hopefully educate those with a more naive view of who the real enemy was. This is important, because it has become fashionable in more modern times to demonize all Germans during WWII as blood thirsty Nazis but by 1945 only 8 million out of 80 million Germans actually belonged to the Nazi party. The historically accurate depictions of the Luftwaffe guards being less severe than the notorious SS guards was another refreshing change.
My main gripes include it being difficult sometimes to follow which B-17 is on screen at any time because it is hard to tell the actors apart with their oxygen masks on. An on screen text notification of the B-17's Nickname or it's Commander would have easily cleared things up when the action switches to a new Flying Fortress.
The next is that while this series has the most accurate and best portrayal of the Tuskegee airmen in any film or series to date, it is disappointing to see them shoehorned in again at the expense of other WWII fighter units who have never received any screen time and actually did fly with the 100th bomber group. Unlike the comically bad Red Tails, their depiction here is much more respectable but I found it an unrelated side story that took the series off track for a short time.
Regardless, this is a masterfully produced series that really needs to be seen to be believed.
