The New Season: 'The War's' High Body Count

As Ken Burns traveled the nation this year screening his upcoming World War II documentary “The War,” the filmmaker heard a comment he hadn’t expected: “Don’t take out a single dead body.”

He didn’t.

“People have smothered this war in two-dimensional treacly myth,” Burns said. He was in Beverly Hills this week for the annual summer gathering of television critics and reporters, and in an interview after the "War" panel, he said:  “Our intention was to try to show the reality of war. This is the worst war ever, so it involves killing.”

In press previews, it’s clear the 14 1/2-hour documentary unflinchingly shows the carnage of war.  Dead soldiers and civilians from both sides of the massive conflict that ultimately claimed 60 million lives are plentiful.  But it’s not all blood and guts -- about a quarter to a third of the work is devoted to the home front, in particular focusing on four communities: Sacramento; Laverne, Minn.; Mobile, Ala.; and Waterbury, Conn.

“There’s a lot worse stuff we didn’t show,” said Burns, who spared viewers images of children killed in the war. “But we left in some pretty graphic stuff that is right at the edge, as it had to be.”

Though some of the graphic war footage, including Holocaust sequences, has been seen before, its placement in the upcoming documentary is expected to be greatly heightened.

“This isn’t B-roll,” Burns said. “We’re not just vamping and illustrating.  You’re actually engaged emotionally.  You know somebody, you know where he lives, you know his dog, you know what his mom is worried about, you know his front porch -- we have invested all this stuff with more meaning.”

“The War” debuts Sept. 23 on PBS.

- Martin Miller

(Photo: Peter Kramer / Getty Images)