People's Century: Killing Fields: The First World
War (WGBH)
Video: C+ Audio: B- Extras: D Program: B+
Any World
War I documentary featuring interview footage of veterans of the Great War is
well worth viewing. The first World War
is nearly a century old now, and the horrors of it — the gas, the trenches, the
mechanized warfare — seem distant and remote compared with the events of World
War II, partly because WWI erupted as documenting motion with film was evolving
and there is a plethora of documentation from WWII. Watching those who fought in the trenches,
dodged machine gun fire, and defended themselves from vicious gas attacks makes
the horrific nature of the conflict that much more palpable.
For this
reason above any other, Killing Fields:
The First World War, produced in 1995 as the second episode in the
BBC-produced People’s Century
series, is essential viewing. Narrated
by Alfre Woodard for the American release, the 56-minute documentary moves
swiftly from the hopefulness sweeping across Europe as the continent moved into
the 20th century to the outbreak of the war in 1914 to the deadly trench
battles to the conclusion of the war.
Peppered throughout are first-hand accounts from soldiers and airman,
recalling what they witnessed on those bloody battlefields across Europe. The veterans provide a human element to the
documentary that so many others like it lack.
Unfortunately,
there is little else in the film that sets it apart from others like it. Killing
Fields is nothing more than a primer on World War I. If you’re intrigued by what we’ve shown you,
the producers might as well say, then by all means explore the topic
elsewhere. The menial running time is
barely suitable to cover the motivations for the war — the geopolitical clashes
erupting across the Eurasia that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
was a result of — let alone the battles waged, culture created, tolls taken,
and world left behind as a result of the war.
The information presented in the documentary moves by too quickly for
the proper exploration demanded by the importance of the war: without World War
I, there would be no Hitler, no Soviet Union, no modern Middle East, no Cold
War, and on and on.
Taken as
nothing more than an introduction to the Great War, Killing Fields succeeds in presenting the pertinent information in
clear, concise ways. But this is hardly
a definitive history of the war.
Likewise, this DVD presentation of the documentary is lacking.
While the
video quality of the disc is hardly awful, all the same the full-frame
presentation never rises much about
cleaned-up-transfer-of-a-12-year-old-television-show. The photographs and motion pictures from the
period are clear enough, but the veteran interviews have this cloudy look to
them, an artifact found in some decade-old TV recordings. The audio side is noticeably better. Sound effects of gun shots, explosions, and
the like, as well as music, narration, and monologue, are clean and vibrant.
Even though the disc is hard on the eyes at times, it’s always easy on the
ears. Extras-wise, the disc fails. The only special features are printable
material for educators and access to the People’s
Century website.
As a
package, you cold do better than Killing
Fields: The First World War. But as
a first-hand document of the memories of those who served in the war, the disc
is indispensable — even as it makes you wish more people documented these
veterans’ stories earlier, when more were still alive.
- Dante A. Ciampaglia
