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Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:30 am
by AMD Damo
Hello guys, I'm after some good war and 9/11 documentaries, if anyone could help me with some names etc that would be great, thanks much.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:35 am
by Captain Ned
Well, for WWII you can't get any better than The World at War.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 12:34 pm
by Vrock
I liked Victory At Sea for WWII. I think I found the series on DVD at the grocery store for like $7.50 a few years back. Won't blow you away with pristine video and audio, but a neat historical early post-war look at the war which defined a century.

WWII in HD was also interesting and had lots of neat footage.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 1:24 pm
by UberGerbil
A couple of more recent ones: "Gunner Palace" and "Restrepo" (the co-director of the latter, Tim Hetherington, died last year while covering the siege of Misurata, Libya)

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 2:11 pm
by JohnC
What do you consider as "good" 9/11 documentary? The one that says "terrorists did it" or the one that says "US Government did it"? :wink:

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 2:50 pm
by UberGerbil
JohnC wrote:
What do you consider as "good" 9/11 documentary? The one that says "terrorists did it" or the one that says "US Government did it"? :wink:
One of those two isn't a documentary. And pretty much any further discussion on this particular topic is going to take the whole thread into R&P, so let's stop.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:56 pm
by AMD Damo
Preferably no US Government conspiracies, because I don't believe the US Government would kill 3000 of its own people for any reason. But we can't go there or we're going to be up to our necks in Religion and Politics creek.

I have Restrepo, that was good.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 10:05 pm
by JohnC
Try something like this, if you can find it for sale locally:
http://www.amazon.com/11-The-Filmmakers ... 176&sr=8-1

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 11:11 pm
by Lucky Jack Aubrey
Ken Burns is well known for his documentaries. The Civil War, made in 1990, was probably his best work. He also made one on WWII in 2007 called simply The War (I haven't seen that one yet).

The World At War and Victory At Sea are both old, but they are absolute classics.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 4:44 am
by trackerben
For actual 9/11 footage, only the Naudet docu has it. "Path to 911" has a more polished and professional overview.

Ken Burns "The War" is good. For a behind-the-scenes look at WWII strategy and geopolitical factors in light of new revelations (particularly ULTRA) see BBC's "World War II Behind Closed Doors". For ground combat re-created up close and personal, see the History Channel "Shootout" series i.e. Okinawa The Last Battle and Return to Fallujah.

For a detailed and true history of the Cold War particularly from the CIA's POV, there's nothing publicly available. But retirees and intelligence community insiders with knowledge point to the 3-part 2007 TV documentary "The Company" as having material closest to the actual history.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 7:15 am
by AMD Damo
I love anything with actual footage, I actually got the Shootout series last night, just started watching the start of the Fallujah one, crazy!

Particularily 9/11, actual footage would be nice.

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 8:26 am
by credible
The best one has been mentioned already, but I just saw this 6 hour series about a month ago and it was fantastic, had some 80% previously unseen footage as well.

It is from the french perspective though and what with me being Canadian they kind of gloss over our role in this war which was mighty important as well.

The second link is one you have probably heard of already and I thoroughly enjoyed it as well.


http://natgeotv.com/uk/world-war-ii-the-apocalypse

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/

Re: Good war/911 documentaries

Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 9:25 am
by Vivaldi
Victory at Sea, the World War II documentary.

The footage may be old, as it was made directly after the war, but (as stated above) it defined an era when humanity's future was far more uncertain. My grandfather, to avoid being drafted into an infantry unit, enlisted into the Navy at a young age, and served proudly and heroically in the South Pacific naval campaign in a gunnery unit.

This footage is the only glimpse of the absolute Hell-on-earth he witnessed and survived.

Imagine for a second being completely blacked out at sea with several other battleships, cruisers, and carriers; pitch black; radio silence; just waiting; listening for the Japanese "zeros"; waiting for the order to fire; all you can hear is the water, the wind, and you and your friends heavy breathing. I can't begin to describe the dread, the adrenaline, the anticipation, prior to an attack; and then the sky lighting up like a life/death fireworks show from the primitive (by our standards) tracer-bullet guns they used to gun down the enemy. The orders were simple: kill them or they crash into the ship and kill a BUNCH of you and your friends.

Completely epic heroism and service. Courage defined.