Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful set!....Get it now because you will never see it properly released, May 11, 2006
This is beyond a shadow of a doubt the best documentary I have ever seen on the Cold War, but it will never be released on DVD, at least not for the forseeable future, much to the chagrin of many.
This film series first aired in 1998 and was released on VHS after DVD's came into vogue, but before the explosion of movies and documentaries released on DVD in 2001-2002 -- so CNN at the time would have been in no initial rush to get it out on DVD since prior to 2001, documentaries on the new medium were an anomaly rather than the rule.
Then 9/11 occured. After 9/11, the Bush Administration had many documents and much declassified film footage reclassified -- specifically those documents and clips which potentially compromised U.S. military operations then underway in Afghanistan (Nov. 2001) -- incidently the same month in which the CNN Cold War series went out of print on VHS, although a few copies remained in stores for purchase out of warehouse stocks until mid-2002.
Episodes 19 and 20, "Freeze" and "Soldiers of God," contain footage and evidence of the U.S. as a result of Cold War tensions supplying the Mujahadeen (a.k.a. Taliban & Islamic Fundamentalists of which Osama Bin Laden was a part of) with hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid through Pakistan as an intermediary. Mujahadeen leaders, soldiers, as well as ordinary Afghan citizens are interviewed, and many clips of Afghan warriors, including the way and style in which they fought the Soviets, were shown, with an explanation of just how they defeated them time and time again in those rocky mountains and the deserts down below -- those same rocky mountains that in 2001, as now, Osama Bin Laden is presumed to be hiding out with the help of those like the people interviewed on these episodes.
Incidently, "Soldiers of God" includes a scene with Former Sec. of State Zbigniew Brezizinski in 1980 telling the Islamic Fundamentalists that "God is on their side," urging them to fight on with the assurance that America was behind them. State Department officials are interviewed as well to confirm that the United States turned a blind eye (like it is now) to the human rights violations, Islamic radicalism, and totalitarian regime within Pakistan for the sake of its own interests in Afghanistan.
With the Middle Eastern film footage reclassified, CNN quit manufacturing the series because it would have meant selling an incomplete product to a potential consumer who it was assumed would not otherwise purchase it unless complete (kudos to this faithful and traditionalist outlook). Who would want a VHS series on the Cold War in which two episodes covering the years 1977 to 1988 had to essentially be deleted? They couldn't really be redone properly without the reclassified footage, but since Ted Turner -- the reason the Cold War was made in the first place -- was no longer at the helm of CNN in 2001, why would the Time-Warner Board of Directors want to waste the time and effort to make two replacement episodes to "glorify" the narcissistic tendencies of the guy they had just pressured to resign from the V-P slot? Considering that only recently there has been talk that Ted Turner might be trying to gain the Board Chairmanship through backchannel means, one can only guess that, assuming its either untrue or he fails, the Time-Warner Board is not particularly interested in reissuing, even in part, a series that was the brain child of the man they are trying to fight off a potential takeover bid from.
So you see, there really is little chance that this documentary will be released on DVD anytime in the near future, not unless the "War on Terror" is miraculously won and the film footage from Iran and Afghanistan declassified, which probably won't happen anytime soon. The point of all this is, BUY THIS SET USED OR HOWEVER YOU CAN OBTAIN IT. IT IS WORTH VIEWING AND WILL BLOW YOUR MIND EVEN IF THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE EVERYTHING ON IT.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding History Information for the Next Generation!, April 17, 2000
This is an outstanding series! As a member of the Defense Nuclear Weapons School in Albuquerque New Mexico, I recommend this excellent look at our history to middle, high schools and universities around the country. Perhaps around the world. I believe with the age of some of the experts and people that were alive during this time fading; we must ensure that this information is past on to generations to come. Ensuring we do not repeat the errors and apply the lessons learned as we move through the 21st century.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Definitive Video History Of The Cold War, January 11, 2005
This 8-tape, 24-episode set is a fascinating video history of the Cold War. While providing a brief background of the rise of Communism in Russia, it focuses on the post-World War II era, from 1945 through the fall of the Berlin Wall and the democratization of the Warsaw Pact countries. The series contains incredible footage of a divided Berlin. The finest episode of this outstanding compendium, in fact, is devoted to the Berlin Wall. The producers managed to get footage of persons in the act of escaping from East Berlin -- and being restrained by East German police. I found it impossible to watch this episode without gasping!
Because the creators were given the time to do a thorough treatment of the subject, we are shown highlights of virtually every significant Cold War event. From the Potsdam conference to the Berlin airlift; from repression in the USSR to MAD; from the Cuban missile crisis, through the Vietnam War, through Gorbachev's attempt to introduce "glasnost" and "perestroika" -- it's all here. We even see footage from the war in Angola, which was never a top priority for the evening news. And we are shown, often for the first time, footage shot from the Communist side of the war. As with all series of this length, it is not perfect. The treatment of the Sandinistas is far too sympathetic -- there was a reason they were voted out in the first free election; the cursory treatment of the Six Day War misstates certain facts and posits the war as simply another crisis between the superpowers; the episode on McCarthyism veers into moral equivalence of the United States and the Stalin-ruled USSR; the Vietnam War alone requires more in-depth treatment than that provided here.
But given the time and space alloted, the creators have put together the definitive video history of the Cold War. Watch it to see an always-engrossing, never-boring history of this conflict. From there, you will certainly be inspired to read more about the different facets of the Cold War. The videos are expensive, but well worth the money. This is a set you will treasure.
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