Summary
Not only is it the last series that will be written and directed by Laurence Rees, the BBC's creative head of history (Rees, who brought us such magnificent films as The Nazis: a Warningfrom History and Auschwitz, is leaving the corporation to devote himself to writing), it also signals the climax of the inexorable march within the BBC towards "presenter-led" history documentaries. Though it lacks a presenter (it is narrated by Samuel West), and therefore doesn't patronise - sorry, I mean, extemporise - or excitedly flap its arms, it does rely heavily on somewhat hammy dramatic reconstructions, and in this particular instance, they sit a little uncomfortably beside interviews with people who actually witnessed the terrible events that the series seeks to uncover: the secret deals that the Soviet Union struck with the Nazis before and during the war - deals that enabled Stalin to invade Poland from the east even as Hitler entered it from the west.
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Extract
The Past in Reconstruction
The past in reconstruction
World War II: Behind Closed DoorsBBC2Why spice up history? Secret Soviet deals with the Nazis is fascinating enoughAs BBC documentaries go, World War II: Behind ClosedDoors is rather sign...See the full content of this document
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