The War Season 1

Synopsis

Six years in the making, this epic 15-hour film focuses on the stories of citizens from four geographically distributed American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and the tiny farming town of Luverne, Minnesota. The four communities stand in for - and could represent - any town in the United States that went through the war's four devastating years. Individuals from each community take the viewer through their own personal and quite often harrowing journeys into war, painting vivid portraits of how the war dramatically altered their lives and those of their neighbors, as well as the country they helped to save for generations to come.

Main Cast

Keith David

Narrator

Age : 67 | Popularity : 39%

Tom Hanks

Narrator

Age : 67 | Popularity : 100%

Josh Lucas

Narrator

Age : 52 | Popularity : 26%

Bobby Cannavale

Narrator

Age : 53 | Popularity : 31%

Samuel L. Jackson

Narrator

Age : 75 | Popularity : 81%

Eli Wallach

Narrator

Age : 98 | Popularity : 32%

Adam Arkin

Reader

Age : 67 | Popularity : 12%

Robert Wahlberg

Narrator

Age : 56 | Popularity : 3%

Episodes

Episode 1

05 March 2008 - A Necessary War

December 1941 - December 1942: The tranquil lives of the citizens of Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota are shattered on December 7, 1941, as they, along with the rest of America, are thrust into the greatest cataclysm in history.

Episode 2

05 March 2008 - When Things Get Tough

January 1943 - December 1943: Americans mobilize for total war at home and overseas. Factories hum around the clock, while in North Africa and then Italy, inexperienced GIs learn how to fight. Meanwhile, in the skies over Europe, thousands of American airmen gamble their lives against preposterous odds on daylight bombing missions.

Episode 3

12 March 2008 - A Deadly Calling

November 1943 - June 1944: Americans are shocked by terrible losses on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa, while in Italy Allied forces are stalled for months at Monte Cassino, and a risky landing at Anzio fails utterly. At home, as overcrowded "war towns" boom, economic transformation leads to confrontation and ugly racial violence.

Episode 4

12 March 2008 - Pride of Our Nation / A Volunteer Basis

June 1944 - August 1944: On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in the Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams from the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.

Episode 5

19 March 2008 - FUBAR

September 1944 - December 1944: Victory in Europe seems imminent, but in Holland, the Vosges Mountains, and the Hurtgen Forest, GIs learn painful lessons as old as war itself - that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die. Meanwhile, on the island of Peleliu, the Marines fight one of the most brutal and unnecessary battles of the Pacific.

Episode 6

19 March 2008 - The Ghost Front

December 1944 - March 1945: Americans are shocked by Hitler's massive counterattack in the Ardennes forest - but by mid-March, 1945, they are across the Rhine, while the Russians are 50 miles from Berlin. In the Pacific, after weeks of desperate fighting, Iwo Jima is secured, and American bombers begin a full-fledged air assault on Japan.

Episode 7

26 March 2008 - A World Without War

March 1945 - December 1945: A few weeks after the death of President Roosevelt shocks the country, Germany surrenders. Meanwhile, American sailors, soldiers and Marines endure the worst battle of the Pacific - Okinawa. In August, American planes drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Japanese, too, surrender. Millions return home - to try to learn how to live in a world without war.

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Ken Burns Lynn Novick
Sound	Additional Soundtrack	Arvo Pärt
Production	Producer	Lynn Novick
	Executive Producer	Ken Burns
Department	Role	Name

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