Like most of the other episodes of this series, it's reasonably well done. It's not a patriotic flag waver but a brief and perceptive overview of events. The problem with many of the earlier documentaries is that they take sides, even if only in subtle ways. More recent documentaries of World War II present an image of events resembling those seen from an overhead camera during a chess game. Black plays white. We can watch the traps, the innovations, the dumb mistakes, on each side -- but we don't know if we're black or white.
The episode also covers the breakout from Normandy, the final capture of Caen by Montgomery's forces and the American battle through the bocage country -- tough, overarching hedges enclosing farm fields that made for excellent defense. (The bocage is fast disappearing as the region is modernized.) Montgomery's attacks on the critical city of Caen were repeatedly repulsed. Finally, in exasperation, the city was bombed into rubble, which provided defensive positions as good as those of whole buildings. The Allies did the same thing with the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Casino. The utter destruction of Caen by Allied bombing sapped some of the élan of the French resistance.
It's a good overall view of the D-Day invasion and the final breakout from Normandy, an area otherwise best known for its cream and apples. Not all the color is from color film, by the way. Some is black-and-white footage that has been "colorized" in that revolting way.
The episode also covers the breakout from Normandy, the final capture of Caen by Montgomery's forces and the American battle through the bocage country -- tough, overarching hedges enclosing farm fields that made for excellent defense. (The bocage is fast disappearing as the region is modernized.) Montgomery's attacks on the critical city of Caen were repeatedly repulsed. Finally, in exasperation, the city was bombed into rubble, which provided defensive positions as good as those of whole buildings. The Allies did the same thing with the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Casino. The utter destruction of Caen by Allied bombing sapped some of the élan of the French resistance.
It's a good overall view of the D-Day invasion and the final breakout from Normandy, an area otherwise best known for its cream and apples. Not all the color is from color film, by the way. Some is black-and-white footage that has been "colorized" in that revolting way.
