VPaulus
Posts: 3630
Joined: 6/23/2011 From: Portugal Status: offline
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One of the things that I really enjoy in Ken Burns documentaries, is the human side of the issue. In both Civil War and The War, we were listening to written testimonies, most coming from private letters... they were very touching and sometimes one could almost even say brutal. Here, we have the real people, amplifying their testimony with their own presence and voice. Testimonies like the one given by Karl Marlantes (Marines 1969), hearing his voice tone, looking at the facial expression and noticing some burst blood vessels on his eyes... it makes everything more vivid: "We had started walking up and we had probably gotten about a third of the way up the hill and then they unleashed on us. We were in the middle of this horrible **** sandwich. That's what we called it. One of the things that I learned in the war is that we're not the top species on the planet because we're nice. People talk a lot about how well the military turns, you know, kids into, you know, killing machines and stuff. And I'll always argue that it's just finishing school." This is a personal angle on the war and into the human condition, that I personally value a lot. I feel that I owe these men and women this much... listen to what they have to say.
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