The New Ken Burns Film

Tonight my wife and I happened across the new Ken Burns documentary, The War. We arrived rather late into the action (the third installment of the series, covering 1943), but that just puts us that much closer to D-Day. You almost feel like it's all downhill from 1943; then you remember the Pacific. Or you remember that all of the action in Band of Brothers hasn't even started yet.

The documentary has a different feel to it. It's definitely not like all the WWII documentaries that run on the History Channel, but I'm not sure I like it that much better. Everything feels out of focus (wait, that's probably my rabbit ears). Anyway, the Ken Burns fundamentals are all in place: big picture provided by an authoritative narrator voice, more or less famous actors reading letters and editorials, interviews with the experts, and the stories of a few individuals traced throughout the film.

Speaking of which, about fifteen minutes into the show, I was amazed to hear Tom Hanks read out the name of the town where I was born.

I never lived in Luverne, you understand, but Lismore doesn't have a hospital, so my sisters and I were all born in the next county, 20 miles away from Lismore. I guess Luverne is technically my native town, but I don't know much about it or recognize the sights on main street. Now it's a part of History, though, so I'm sure I'll be learning more.

I do wonder if the Nobles County Historical Society is a little envious, though. (I was going to post a link to their website, but it looks like they can't be bothered to get on the internets. So here's a website for Pioneer Village, which the first person to click on this link will grace as the 148th visitor!)