Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II (1992)
- Directed by
- Bill Miles
- Genre
- documentary film
- Country
- United States
- Runtime
- 1h 30m
- Rating
- 7.5 of 10 from 2 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
This documentary uses interviews, photographs, and diary readings to follow two mostly black Army units in World War II. It shows their fight against racism at home and their role in freeing Nazi concentration camps.
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What happens
The Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II is a 1992 documentary film co-produced by Bill Miles and Nina Rosenblum and narrated by the actors Louis Gossett Jr. and Denzel Washington. Using interviews, photographs, and diary readings, it tells the story of the primarily black 761st Tank Battalion and 183rd Combat Engineers during World War II, including their experiences of racism in the United States and their involvement in the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The documentary was criticized for misidentifying the units and camps involved in the liberation of concentration camps. There was speculation that the film was intended to reduce tensions between the Jewish and African-American communities in the aftermath of the 1991 Crown Heights Riot. WNET’s investigation into the film found that Paul Parks, identified in The Liberators as serving in the 183rd Combat Engineers Battalion, had actually served in the 365th Engineers, which was close to Le Havre, France on the day of Dachau's liberation. The U.S. Army Center of Military History reported that it had no records “to prove or disprove that there were African American units that participated in the liberation of Dachau.” However, a Holocaust survivor said in an interview with Elliot Perlman that there were black troops present on the day of the liberation of Dachau. The Liberators was described as "outstanding but ultimately flawed" in a review published in The Journal of American History, because although it gave a "vivid portrayal of discrimination, humiliation, courage, and achievement", it distorted history by strongly implying, using footage interspersed with the interviews, that the 761st Tank Battalion was involved in the liberation of the Buchenwald and Dachau. The 761st liberated the Gunskirchen sub-unit of the Mauthausen concentration camp, but were not near either Buchenwald or Dachau when they were liberated. It was suggested that this false impression was given for dramatic effect because Gunskirchen has less name recognition than the other concentration camps. Facing History and Ourselves describes the film as "a valuable contribution to the oral history of this period, particularly about segregation in the United States." A companion book was published based on the film's research. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
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The Negro Soldier (1944)
The Shadow of Hate (1994)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.