World on Fire

Below the line is my original post.

I've just finished episode 4, and I've lowered my rating to a "2/10". Unbelievable that they've obviously used writers that have *zero* knowledge of basic warfare, or tactics of WWII. The British soldiers are portrayed as unorganised idiots that are so happy-go-lucky that they keep getting surprised by Germans because they don't even post sentries! For the record, at the beginning of the war, Brits were fierce warriors, even though severely outgunned.

The Germans in Poland keep falling for the female bait to their doom, but there's no retaliation against the innocent citizens?!

Oh, it's getting very, very bad, and not even Sean Bean can help this one.

I'll keep watching, but *only* because there's three episodes left.

Original.....................................................................................V

I was quite stoked for this after the first episode, even excusing some of the bad writing. I gave it a generous "9".

After the second episode, it's obvious that the men are weak, bumbling incompetents.

All the women are the leaders, strong, defiant, organized, and in charge.

Too bad that Hollywood has corrupted British film makers...

My rating slid to "5" stars, I'll adjust as necessary as the series progresses.

This is for people who want to know about confusion and pain, not the shoot them up pastiche of war that is typical. It's sibjective approach means it has nine of the grand narative, but that's exactly right for the humane film it is

Season 1 was something to watch when you felt like a WW2 drama that included a bit of everything, but it wasn't engrossing, and I even forgot to watch the end of the series.

Then season 2 arrived. Whatever happened in the years between I'm not sure, but the dialogue is just woeful, and the production seems like it was all done on the cheap - the desert scenes looked like they were made on a movie lot in the 50s, and I thought the gestarpo interrogation scenes were part of some comedy skit!

There were so many different story lines going on at the same time with no connection it just all felt very disjointed.

I'm not sure if it was the characters or the people playing them but they were pretty annoying a lot of the time. The only part worth watching was with Lesley Manville - and now Mark Bonnar has appeared I'm hoping it might get better.

We have seen plenty of Wartime dramas which see it from the British point of view, I was impressed to see this told from the point of view of the Polish, an often overlooked aspect. It features breathtaking special effects, it looks lavish and features some terrific performances, Lesley Manville and Sean Bean in particular stand out.

Part three was my favourite episode, I thought the story there was particularly harrowing, but there are some interesting segments.

It does tell the story from the point of view of some of the minority groups, those that class this as pc, are pretending that such things didn't happen? In reality such stories happened.

The scene that will always stay with me is the one where Helen Hunt talks to the Doctor responsible for the death of the disabled. A very harrowing, but powerful scene.

Can't wait for Series 2. 8/10

Nice to see the polish side of the story and how horrifying it all was. Glad the bbc used well known polish actors rather than British actors with accents. Lends an authenticity to proceedings. Well acted throughout and great to see heavyweights like Helen hunt and Sean bean and Lesley Manville in tv