Reviews

I don't think that Burns did a tremendous job here. Not only did he focus on 4 towns that were supposed to be representative of America, but he played to the political correctness of today's America.

It is obvious that the Japanese and Blacks that fought in WW2 got the worst assignments, and performed admirably. I agree that it is good to highlight their contributions, because in other documentaries they were slighted. However, I don't think this is the point of WW2.

I think the point of WW2 is that ordinary people were capable of extraordinary things. Burns focus on the tragedy of war, the line of questioning he pursues with the participants, skews the meaning that we should take from WW2.

Of course war is horrible. Of course terrible things happen during wars. We know that. What you don't know about war is how each man in combat looks out for not only himself, but his comrades in arms. You don't hear about the true compassion that these guys felt for their fellow soldiers. I think that is because of the questions that are asked(which you don't hear).

It is nice to see footage from the German and Russian archives. But I think that Burns could have done a lot better job on this documentary.

This is a realistic view of what it was like to trade on the floor. It is a gut wrenching experience at times. The adrenaline rush that you get while trading is like no other. Even athletes don't experience the same rush, because that's about wining and losing. This is about being right and making CASH. For every winner, there is a loser.

The action in the pit is depicted pretty well. A cacophony of noise. It is the sound of money being made, and lost. The best part of trading was being busy, the worst, waiting to be busy. That is where the real inside pit action took place. Cutting remarks, tricks, hijinks and other stuff. Never a dull moment. You could not be a trader and have an ego.