WWII From Space

The gimmick of this History Channel documentary is to describe WWII using fancy digital graphics inserted between academic sound bytes. It's as much like WWII from the f/x departments of CNN/USA Today/ESPN as "from space," featuring eye-bytes of pseudo-satellite imagery, 3D statistical charts, exploded CAD-style profiles of weapons and ships, and colorful maps detailing supply routes and occupied territories. The war is mostly presented from the U.S. vantage, beginning with Pearl Harbor and ending with Hiroshima/Nagasaki, while occasionally backtracking to Axis spearheads into the U.S.S.R. (China is barely mentioned). Both the Ardennes offensive and the battle of Kursk (a Russian turning point) receive short shrift, while America's maladroit performance in North Africa garners nearly as much attention as D-Day (and Italy seems to have no role in the carnage). Still, WWII From Space does offer some fresh perspective on the secret sharing of state-of-the-art technology between Britain and the U.S.; the projected cost in lives if the Allies had invaded Japan instead of dropping the A-bomb (10 million Japanese, 1.7 American dead); and the price tag of the “Good War” in modern adjusted-for-inflation terms ($4.4 trillion). Brief interviews with surviving veterans help to humanize a film that is otherwise overwhelmingly laden with visual effects. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)