Customer Reviews

Great Battles of Wwii 2: Battle of Britain

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This film is the second in a series called "Why we Fight". It is a ... film made by the army in the early forties (1942, perhaps). I shall stress that this is, by no means, an objective documentary on The Battle of Britain. The information in this film is exaggerated. For instance, the narrator claims that the germans outnumbered the british "6, 8, 10 to 1", and at the beginning of the film a kind of fear tactic is used (most likely in the hopes of alluring young men into the army) when the narrator claims that the germans planned to invade the U.S. In that moment, a map of Europe is shown with an animation that shows Germany transforming (literally!) into a whale that swallows up Britain... There are several such animations interspersed in the film. And then, when you don't get to see an animation, you see some actors doing "everyday stuff", but the dialogs seem too forced and the scenes look somewhat phony. Yet, there's plenty of real footage and you do get an insight (albeit, somewhat biased) of what the general mood of the britons was at that time.

Finally, there's the extras of this DVD. There's a trivia of about 9 questions not related at all with the film. One page displaying the Victoria Cross, and another two displaying little useful information about Churchill and the Spitfires. Something like, "This is Churchill, prime minister of England during WWII", and "Look! This is a picture of a Spitfire. Nice, huh? It was used in the Battle of Britain". In other words, if you are into ... films and you really must have this one, you are better off buying "WWII Divide and Conquer/The Battle of Britain". I think it is the same film, but at least that one has two posters you can display.

In few words. This film presents a biased view at the Battle of Britain, which is understandable due to the sole purpose it was made for: ... This is not a reliable source of historic data. Anyone looking for a serious documentary should stay clear of this one.

I bought the other two DVD's to complete my set, which I thought were above average documentaries. I spend much of my time reading and watching documentaries from the Civil War to present. I found these DVD's captivating and interesting. For the price that they cost, they are worth the purchase!