Five Came Back (2017) Review

Title: Five Came Back
Year: 2017
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Country: US
Language: English

With Pictures at a Revolution, author Mark Harris turned the story of the five best pictures nominated in 1967 into a masterpiece of cultural history; the transformation of an art form into works of more larger social significance. In his next book, Five Came Back, he showed us how Hollywood changed World War Two and vice versa. Netflix bought the rights to the book and made a 3-part mini-series that enhance the original text. 

Five present-day directors discuss five wartime directors who voluntarily joined WW2 in order to film it: William Wyler (presented by Steven Spielberg), Frank Capra (Guillermo del Toro), George Stevens (Laurence Kasdan), John Ford (Paul Greengrass) and John Huston (Francis Ford Coppola).

Five Came Back is a celebration of cinema; from its ability to entertain (enter private S.N.A.F.U shorts) to its ability to be pure propaganda (Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will) It is an exploration of World War Two, describing a time when the American Government was torn between brutal truth (Battle of San Pietro) and escapist storytelling (Wizard of Oz) 

The picture is not only about Hollywood's own evolution of turning towards darker and more ambiguous topics, but also of the evolution of each individual film-maker whose lives were forever changed by participating in the event. Poor George Stevens (Woman of the Year) had to witness the horror of Dachau, which changed his view of life forever. William Wyler's experiences (which made him permanently deaf) allowed him to make the greatest film of his career The Best Years of Our Lives. 

The narration by current day directors is rather informative and does a good job at engaging the viewer. Spielberg seems very pleased to share his love for these past masters with a new generation of filmgoers.  I am impressed by the frank discussions about the negative power of American propaganda. It's rather interesting that many in high command were perplexed by the overtly racist Japanese cartoons and, in some instances, were concerned that Americans would view fellow Asian citizens as monsters if the racism was too out of hand. It's self reflection is a step-above most  documentaries about World War II.