I never know where to post anything I swear it always seems like there are five comms that are relevant but zero that are appropriate
The wife and I were digging through old doccos uploaded to Youtube and stumbled across The Occult History of the Third Reich, which sounds for all the world like a History Channel "OMG THE NAZI GOLD!" type sensationalist pile of bs. Surprisingly enough though it's a pretty detailed look at the roots and practices of the more esoteric side of everyone's least favourite fascists, and how it all tied into their genocidal ideology. I was extremely impressed.
So brainrot re-engaged we started watching The World At War, and it's cool but I desire a non-Western perspective. I realise that a lot of countries in say, Eastern Europe might not have as much reason to fetishise past wars through documentary as the US and its military industrial complex, but I'd really like to see the second world war through other lenses. Soooo much of American and British WWII doccos are sooooo bad. Pull up the 1995 Battlefield series and it's all "dyk that Hitler was actually a big stinky dumbdumb and his generals were all very sexy nicebois who oversaw no crimes and could have totes legitsies taken Moscow and Kursk if not for that meddling Adolf??" type garbage.
Ty for engaging with this post if you do ✨
Soviet Storm, a documentary series about the Eastern Front, straight up Russian propaganda, and a GOOD propaganda at that. Highly recommended.
World War II in Colour had some moments that raises the eyebrows, but it:
a) Explains how Britain caused WW2 due to their hatred of the Soviets
b) Why Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Hitler
c) Shows how Spain was used as a proxy war between Russia and Germany (and how the League of Nations - especially France - led to a Fascist victory)
d) Explains how Russia was pivotal for ending the war
Overall, I thought it was very good.
DISCLAIMER: Watched it around a decade ago, so might be foggy
It was somewhat decent for a western doc, though I thought they spent too little time talking about the “Eastern Front” and too much time talking about other theaters
“The World at War” narrated by Laurence Olivier is still one of the best I can think of. Definitely some lib brained shit in there but they acknowledge the crucial role the Soviets played and go into great detail about a lot of the higher level political stuff. It’s from the 70s too so a lot of folks were still alive to be interviewed (for better or worse—seeing fuckers like Albert Speer and Traudl Junge still breathing is infuriating, but they also interview a lot of folks from the various resistance movements and Soviet veterans).
The Soviet episodes of this series were not bad honestly. One of the things I really respect about TWAW is how high-production-values are on show, and also that all the footage is in 4:3 and uncolourised, just the way it was GODDAMN FUCKIN MEANT TO BE
Come and See is a great soviet film about WWII
(shhh nobody spoil it)
I havent watched it in a long time but I was really enjoying the WW2 week by week series that Indy Neidell was doing in the same flavor as his WW1 series that I absolutely loved (and would highly recommend) so you might want to check that out. He does pretty consistently tell you where his sources are from and taking the war week by week is a pretty good format for digesting 10-20 minute chunks of content and is doesnt leave a whole lot out of the narrative.
https://www.youtube.com/@WorldWarTwo
and heres the WW1 channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheGreatWar
I watched The Great War as it released and it rules but kinda lost track after it wasn't 100 years later week by week live coverage. Also I don't reeeeally trust Indy to talk about nazism
I decided to check back in with it and watch some of the more current episodes and it does feel like he's talking with the right disdain about the holocaust but some of his sources on the Soviet invasion of Germany feel a little
in terms of war crime manufacture. Oh well. Is there any other reason why you say you dont trust him to talk about nazism.His haircut mostly. But in all seriousness I saw how he handled the Soviet revolution in the great war and knew he was super lib
Newsreels from the time that have survived are mostly publicly available and I'd check those out. They're propaganda of course but the propaganda spread during the war and then what was spread after is interesting as hell. First hand reports are always good
Ayo the USSR don't seem to have newsreels any time between 1926 and 1943? I know about Kino-Pravda and Novosti Dnya at least. I got the idea after watching the last two issues of the Deutsche Wochenschau, because you can only stomach so much literal nazi propaganda.
American and British ones report on the USSR being cool as hell cause they needed to at the time. If you wanna see how they change their tune opportunistically it's a very interesting look. It's still the same broad stereotype of the Russian and soviets you'd see throughout the cold war but just for this instant its advertised as good by America. It would be an interesting film project to cut between ww2 praise and then condemnation just 5 years later
Does anyone have WWII docs that say the dropping of the nuclear bomb was immoral? I only get bullshit about how in the end it saved lives because Japan would never surrender and it pisses me off.
Not aware of any docs, but the Based Talking Skull Guy made a lil video about the process, justifications, morality and effects of the nuclear bombs being dropped on Japan which is superb. Lot of insight into Imperial Japanese high command.
Have you seen "the atomic Cafe"? It's an essay film entirely made from found footage from after WW2 about the nuclear arms race and there's scenes in there that sure make the US seem absolutely insane.
Atomic Cafe is something everyone here should watch. It's a very good historical setpiece and also it's why the Fallout series exists.
Atomic Cafe is a classic for a reason, best way to feel grim and nihilistic.
Soviet Storm was made by Russian and translated into english, it is free on youtube, and is really pro-soviet. There is barely anything I have been hung up on in it from what i have watched. Some strange framing here and there, and weak cgi production values, but NOTHING comes close to it in terms of giving an actual soviet focus and a lot of incredible details
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbS56uDdDHo&list=PLwCxcPJc6BatpwRKeXxsmsDEiaGt6Vh1p
the best i've seen for not being Red-Scare or Nazi-fellating are unironically the wartime documentaries like Why We Fight. it's easy to keep your wits about bercause its so obviously propaganda too
Not really a documentary, but "Hitler: A film from Germany" by Syberberg seems pretty great. I've only seen one of the four parts but it really seems like one of the most thorough explorations of Nazi ideology (and it's successors)
