E Wright
I enjoyed the series as entertainment but became too irritated by the historical inaccuracy. Not so much of the war itself but of the social relationships between the officers and their men. In episode one they portray the Australian officer as a bolshie individualist - some of his men might have been - but Australian officers were schooled in exactly the same way as their English counterparts and had attitudes to match. There is no way that officers would have taken the lip offered by their men as shown in the series. Such men would have been tied to artillery wheels for their impertinence. Nurses were given the rank of lieutenant and would not have fraternized openly with other-ranks - although there would have been some secretive liaisons behind the matron's back for sure. Capital punishment courts martial was a formal procedure and not awarded in the field as portrayed in episode 2. The Northern Irish army chaplain would not have taken kindly to being addressed in the manner of a Catholic Priest. Not on the Somme. And as a major he would not have accepted back-chat from a private either. *As a small side note on this, the Ulster volunteer contingent had actually named a part of the front line the Pope's Nose, so as to encourage themselves in the assault.And the private with the Mohican helmet? in 1916? are you serious? He would have been up on a charge for not wearing his regulation helmet straight.As for the Germans marching towards the bridge in formation order. Argghh. I can understand them being ambushed whilst on the march - and I think this is what actually happened - they were caught in a railway cutting or such like. So no. Not brilliant. Entertaining, yes. Maybe even a little sinister if it is insinuating lost values.
TruthTwentyFour
What the negative reviewers are failing to appreciate...This is a mixed genre piece... Also, get over it.Remember Knights Tale, and how effectively they used modern music to connect with a modern audience? "We will rock Rock you" for a jousting tournament? Remember Moulin Rouge! Solid examples of modern music, used in period pieces--to great effect, I'm thinking. We all imagine WW11 to the musical stylings of Vera Lynn, or can't imagine a WW1 piece without: It's a Long Way to Tipperary, all in black and white of course.How does that hit our hearts now? This series has accurate uniform, armory, battles, replete with letters, and recorded statements from the participants involved. You don't get anymore historically accurate than this... Seriously, I can safely say it is a well researched portrayal. How about communicating that portrayal, so it is fully appreciated nowadays? How about expressing the extreme violence, nobleness and depravities of this period of history, in a language understandable to a modern day teenager--which were the fodder that we grinded up in this war? Perhaps, maybe, tell it in now, in this same young person's vocabulary, to express a greater truer impact of this conflict, in a way that will communicate to their own sensibilities? You know are youngsters now have currently been equally called out, and died in wars recently, that are perhaps stupider than this, and they just might benefit from what WW1 has to tell them. Why not make this piece accessible to them? This is nothing new in cinema, that hasn't been done many times over in the spirit of showing a generation, what previous generations have experienced. In my opinion, this is one of the stand outs, which makes history more tangible, something you can taste and feel, instead of a dusty old relic.This is only a hundred years ago. We didn't have tails and were trying to avoid being eaten on the kalahari. The automobile, airplane, and telephone had already been incorporated into modern warfare.They were listening to songs, like we are. This mixing of genres brings it home. It shows the relevancy of this war, and these young people, not it's antiquatedness. It was supposed to be: The war to end all Wars, and because it didn't, we might take pains to remind everyone of that fact.Same assessment, for the modern in-camera portrayals, for the exact same reasons. YES!!! If the filmmakers of that day, could show what their generation went though, with the Pizazz this BBC production has, they would have been equally blown away, as I was watching this show.Way to go BBC! Another brilliant example of how you are out-pacing other markets. A must see for anyone I can think of.
Trevor Mcinsley
The stories they chose to portray in this series were well chosen and incredibly well done. Made a real change from the generic trench horror stories and showed other aspects of the war. The action scenes were pretty brutal and intense and really made the viewer connect to what was happening and what the soldiers went through.My only criticism is that the programme was clearly trying to target a young audience by throwing whatever awful style of music happens to be in the charts this week into the mix. It often jumped around quite randomly and spoiled the ambiance of the performance. I guess that this was out of some kind of desire to make the war seem more modern and relatable. Certainly the overhead thermal drone style shots and news style infographics of unit movements worked well. They made it feel a lot more relatable when we are all used to such things from Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the music though just seemed like a bad attempt at doing likewise which just came off as being really out of place and bizarre.Anyway, I apparently missed this when it first broadcast in the summer and only caught it when it was shown again on iPlayer later in the year. Watching this after 'The Passing Bells' really made this show stand out as being especially well directed and filmed. I would say it is definitely up there with the likes of Band of Brothers and The Pacific and considering that it is about World War One that is impressive.
