In the 1940s, the US Armed Forces assembled a film nerd’s dream team of directors: Frank Capra, John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, and William Wyler. Their job was to film the war and cut together propaganda reels to show in theaters across the country, to boost American morale and underscore the necessity of the war effort. The result changed both American history and film history.
Based on the book by Mark Harris, who also wrote the series, Netflix’s documentary series will explore both why the propaganda effort was necessary, thanks in part to Hitler using the movies to push the Nazi point of view on the world, and how it affected the five men who got into the thick of it. None of these directors were sitting in Hollywood cutting footage; they were at some of the most dangerous battles in the war, filming it as it happened, watching men and women die, and all of them came back changed. It’s difficult to watch Capra’s Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life without considering it’s a movie about a man struggling with where life took him and the feeling that he could have done more with it if circumstances hadn’t conspired against him, for example.
Much will be made of the timing, of course, especially with Meryl Streep narrating the series. But in truth it wouldn’t matter what the state of the world was; the documentaries made are fascinating works of journalism on their own. You can see for yourself tomorrow, as Netflix will have several of the documentaries this show talks about available for streaming on March 1st. The series itself will premiere March 31st.
