It's not been an easy documentary to find... I've been looking high and low for years, then I found it on YouTube in all its (not very high definition) glory. Easy. I've been on this mission because I've been haunted by the title music since I saw it on TV back in 2001. I've finally identified the music, but more of that later.
This is a stunning, moving and insightful four-part look at the war in the Pacific. There is nothing gung-ho here: it is terrible, horrific, sad, honest and utterly beautiful. As the title says, this war was hell. This is an astonishingly humane look at the very depths of the 20th century's horror story - and not a Nazi in sight.
I bet the (many) people - all military and civilian combatants and victims - are nearly all dead now. "Hell in the Pacific" is the best legacy any of them could have left - American, British, Australian, Japanese...
They are all human beings and not just uniforms, or uniform prejudices and tired clichés.
I take my hat off to the lot of them.
It's the best WWII documentary I've ever seen. I can't recommend it highly enough.
The music, if you're interested, is "Moment Musical N 3 en Si Mineur Op 16'" by Charlie Haden Quartet West. It will carry on haunting me.
This is a stunning, moving and insightful four-part look at the war in the Pacific. There is nothing gung-ho here: it is terrible, horrific, sad, honest and utterly beautiful. As the title says, this war was hell. This is an astonishingly humane look at the very depths of the 20th century's horror story - and not a Nazi in sight.
I bet the (many) people - all military and civilian combatants and victims - are nearly all dead now. "Hell in the Pacific" is the best legacy any of them could have left - American, British, Australian, Japanese...
They are all human beings and not just uniforms, or uniform prejudices and tired clichés.
I take my hat off to the lot of them.
It's the best WWII documentary I've ever seen. I can't recommend it highly enough.
The music, if you're interested, is "Moment Musical N 3 en Si Mineur Op 16'" by Charlie Haden Quartet West. It will carry on haunting me.