World at War

World at War is a 24 episode documentary, produced by Thamus (1973-74), and it is a victim of using the ever-so-controversial conventional voice of God narration. I found myself paying much more attention to the pictures than to what the narrator was saying, even though the words went along with what was happening on the screen. However, I do feel that the narration was valuable because without the narration, I would have had no idea what I was watching at each moment. I think the fact that the people on the screen had no voices, a characteristic of voice over narration, also played a role in why I found myself more intrigued by the images on the screen. I think that in a way, it challenged me to think about what was going on in the scene and what people were saying. Also, the authority of the narrator, another characterstic of voice over narration, was a factor in how I watched the film. I felt that the narrator did have a strong sense of authority and I believed everything he said. Again, the fact that we only know what the narrator tells us was present. Although in some documentaries this can be negative, I think that the information given was pretty objective and straightforward. Although I'm sure if the Germans had created the documentary it may have a different spin than the one it has. This film also fit the stereotype that the "voice of God" must always be a male. Overall, I thought that even though this was a World War II documentary, and I usually don't like historical movies, I liked something about it.