Stream It Or Skip It: ‘World War II: From The Frontlines’ On Netflix, A Docuseries That Illustrates The Massive War With Enhanced Footage

World War II: From The Frontlines is a six-part docuseries, directed by Rob Coldstream and narrated by John Boyega, that gives viewers an new view into the massive conflict, using real footage from the frontlines of both the Axis and Allied powers. A disclaimer at the beginning of the first episode explains the “enhanced footage” aspect: the footage is real, but some scenes have been combined “to create an an immersive experience.” It’s also been restored and colorized.

WORLD WAR II: FROM THE FRONTLINES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Black and white shot of Earth spinning, then old radio broadcasts talk about the conflict in Europe as the camera zooms in on the continent.

The Gist: The first episode covers the first two years of the war, 1939-1940; at this point, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party has been in control of Germany for six years, his army has already invaded Austria and Czechoslovakia, and he is setting his sights on Poland. Via the aforementioned archival footage, along with interviews from people who fought for both sides as well as survived Nazi concentration camps, we get a picture of how things in Poland started deteriorating pretty quickly when the Nazis pushed into the country. There was a resistance movement, but a relentless bombing campaign weakened the country’s defenses.

England got drawn into the conflict after the invasion of Poland, but can do little to stop Germany’s push into much of the continent, culminating in the takeover of France. After rolling over Poland and France, Germany sets its sights on England, starting with an air campaign. But over 12 weeks, the RAF battles back the Luftwaffe, and they suffer so many losses, they need to regroup. In the meantime, Benito Mussolini, Italy’s dictator, is plotting with Hitler to spread the war into northern Africa.

At this point, the Nazis are starting to round up Jews in Poland and elsewhere and send them to concentration camps, in its effort to promote a “master race.” Italy invades Greece. And now Japan, already at war with China, has decided to join Germany and Italy to make the war truly a global conflict.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? World War II: From The Frontlines is similar to WWII In Color: Road To Victory.

Our Take: Even if you’re not a war buff, you likely won’t learn anything new from World War II: From The Frontlines about how the war proceeded. The show isn’t really trying to give new details to a viewer; if you paid attention in history class, or watched any of the kajillion cable docuseries about the war, the information imparted in this docuseries won’t be new to you.

But what this series tries to do is bring you “up close and personal” into the war, so to speak. Through its colorized and enhanced footage, as well as the personal accounts from soldiers and Holocaust survivors, the show is designed to bring you into the battles, showing the horrors of war in ways that you likely haven’t seen before.

That’s really what differentiates this show from many of the others about the global conflagration. There are no historians drily describing Hitler’s motivations or discussing battle plans. The people talking are people who were there. Plus, the perspective is more European, not just showing the war from when the United States came in late in 1941. There were many moments when the Axis powers appeared to be in control, but it was all of the Allied powers who fought them back, with the US in the lead. We hope that this docuseries will show that as each episode discusses a year in the life of the war.

Sex and Skin: There’s nudity in horrific concentration camp scenes.

Parting Shot: “In 1941, the flames will spread to engulf every corner of the world,” says Boyega. The episode ends with footage from the Japanese bombing oof Pearl Harbor.

Sleeper Star: The colorization effort was extensive, given the research needed to make sure the colors used were authentic. It certainly made many scenes look like they were shot in color and enhanced others that were a bit on the fuzzy side.

Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not sure why we didn’t see the faces of most of the people who were interviewed. We did see the face of one German soldier who regrets his conduct during those early days when Jews were being rounded up. It could be because some of the interviews were audio only, but who knows.

Our Call: STREAM IT. You won’t learn anything new about World War II by watching World War II: From The Frontlines, but you sure will get a view of the war that you may have never seen before.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.