This is one of the harshest battles in which American troops have ever been involved. Hearing and seeing the men who were there describe their actions, thoughts, hopes, and fears was deeply moving.
Unfortunately, this being a PBS documentary, the producers cannot stop themselves from heaping praise upon the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century: Mao Zedong. Mao had supported North Korea's invasion of the South, and one "historian" actually compared the US response in attempting to unify Korea to a hypothetical Chinese effort to take Mexico to "stop capitalism." Umm...what? Absolute lunacy.
The inclusion of the man who said this nonsense, which is an insult to humanity and Mao's tens of millions of victims, takes points away from an otherwise fine documentary on the battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
The absolute hatred of General MacArthur by the producers is transparent to anyone with an understanding of history.
This could have been a perfect documentary had it held to the facts.
In summation...the bulk of the piece, i.e., the first-hand accounts of the soldiers and information on the battle itself was excellent. The propagandizing on the broader geopolitical backdrop was shameful. The filmmakers just couldn't help themselves from damaging an otherwise excellent documentary with their revisionist history and glorification of the man responsible for the most deaths of the 20th Century.
Unfortunately, this being a PBS documentary, the producers cannot stop themselves from heaping praise upon the biggest mass murderer of the 20th century: Mao Zedong. Mao had supported North Korea's invasion of the South, and one "historian" actually compared the US response in attempting to unify Korea to a hypothetical Chinese effort to take Mexico to "stop capitalism." Umm...what? Absolute lunacy.
The inclusion of the man who said this nonsense, which is an insult to humanity and Mao's tens of millions of victims, takes points away from an otherwise fine documentary on the battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
The absolute hatred of General MacArthur by the producers is transparent to anyone with an understanding of history.
This could have been a perfect documentary had it held to the facts.
In summation...the bulk of the piece, i.e., the first-hand accounts of the soldiers and information on the battle itself was excellent. The propagandizing on the broader geopolitical backdrop was shameful. The filmmakers just couldn't help themselves from damaging an otherwise excellent documentary with their revisionist history and glorification of the man responsible for the most deaths of the 20th Century.
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