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Daily Mirror
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Netflix viewers left ‘deeply moved' by ‘immersive' documentary depicting WWII like never before
Britain and the Blitz is now available to stream on Netflix, and it features vividly restored archival footage and firsthand accounts of WWII Netflix's latest offering is a gripping World War II documentary featuring newly restored archival footage that promises to be one of the most immersive films on the subject. The streaming giant has colourised film and unearthed rare interviews to narrate the story of everyday life during Germany's relentless bombing of Britain from 1940 to 1941. With VE Day just around the corner this Thursday (8th May), it's an ideal moment for history buffs to delve into some crucial wartime history, and Netflix's fresh release, Britain and the Blitz, is sure not to disappoint. Director Ella Wright delivers a poignant and powerful portrayal of the British spirit through the eyes of real-life survivors of the Blitz, including the young Eric Brady, who was only five when his school was hit, and Edith Heap, a 21 year old Royal Air Force plotter, among other resilient Brits. The synopsis teases: "This immersive documentary brings history to life through vividly restored archival footage and firsthand accounts of WWII Britain during the Blitz", reports the Express. In a glowing recommendation, Decider tells Netflix fans to "stream it", praising the film for its "intimate details of survival within a larger story we're likely already familiar with, namely, Britain's seemingly improbable ability to withstand dozens upon dozens of bombing raids spread out over 240 days during 1940-41. "The individual accounts of these people don't just emphasize what happened during that time – they share personal stories of love and romance, of tragedy and heartbreak, as these people, all notably quite young, came of age during a time of extreme hardship that ultimately defined the rest of their lives." A fan on Letterboxd gave it four stars, saying: "Netflix finally does good - an excellent documentary about the Blitz of Britain from September 1940 to May 1941. "Taking a page from Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old, the film has been nicely colourized with actual recordings of newsreaders over archival films as well as interviews with many Blitz survivors, many of which had to be done in the past as most Blitz survivors would be in their 80s and 90s if not older. One survivor, Edith Heap, actually made it to 100 in 2018." The Irish Independent concurred: "Director Ella Wright uses techniques pioneered by Peter Jackson to create an immersive, deeply moving experience." An IMDb review highlighted the film's unique approach: "Britain and the Blitz is not your 'ordinary' war documentary - it does not focus on; strategic decisions, frontline fighting action or the ongoings in the minds of people on the battlefield. Rather it focuses on the social and fatiguing aspects of life during wartime. It does so pretty well. "BatB offers no insights into the rationale of 'this type of warfare' - it does however offer a few compassionate glimpses into the world of those affected. "In so doing it offers a different kind of insight into the effects of war and tells a story that, arguably, should be told more often." One viewer on X (formerly Twitter) hailed Britain and the Blitz as a "hard-hitting, historical, cinematic masterpiece". Another fan suggested: "If anybody is interested and you have Netflix. Watch Britain and the Blitz. It's fascinating. "People that were there, tell of what they lived through and it's just amazing what Britain and London went through for 8 months to save their country." Britain and the Blitz is available to stream on Netflix.
Irish Independent
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Britain and the Blitz review: With colourised footage and snatches of speech, Netflix doc shows wartime life from a new angle
Director Ella Wright uses techniques pioneered by Peter Jackson to create an immersive, deeply moving experience Pat Stacey The image of a London firefighter atop a long ladder, spraying water at the towering flames licking the night sky, has become the best-known symbol of the Blitz, the eight-month period from 1940 to 1941 when Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe conducted a virtually non-stop bombing campaign against British cities. It shows up in adverts for British ancestry websites and for the commemorative mail-order tat that's peddled on the satellite channels whenever a major WWII anniversary rolls around. At this stage it's been so overused, not least in television documentaries about the war, that it's in danger of losing its meaning and impact. It inevitably appears again in the new documentary Britain and the Blitz (Netflix, streaming from Monday, May 5). So does other familiar, perhaps even over familiar, footage. A policeman runs down a London street frantically blowing his whistle as a wailing air raid siren announces incoming German bombers. A mother in an apron herds her young children off the street and into a makeshift air raid shelter. St Paul's Cathedral, which became a symbol of Londoners' resistance, wreathed in smoke. Buildings collapse like they're made of nothing more durable than matchsticks and cardboard. The citizens of London huddle in the Underground. A nurse tends to an injured child. But there's less common footage, too. Artworks in the Tate Gallery being moved into storage. The animals in London Zoo being transported to safety. In a clip as upsetting as anything I've ever seen in a war documentary, a little girl of no more than six is trapped up to the waist in rubble, unable to move and crying out for her mother. Given the sheer number of WWII documentaries on the various history channels virtually every day of the week, it's easy to become numbed to such pictures. ADVERTISEMENT Black-and-white footage drawn from a staggering array of sources has been restored and expertly colourised But what makes Ella Wright's film so fresh and powerful lies in how images are married to sound effects and snatches of speech. Using techniques pioneered by Peter Jackson in his superb 2018 WWI documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, black-and-white footage drawn from a staggering array of sources has been restored and expertly colourised. As in Jackson's film, here and there, actors lip-synching to the people on screen brings the voices of the long dead back to a sort of fleeting life. Taken together, it all makes for an immersive, deeply moving experience. The testimonies of those who lived through the Blitz, some of them still with us, are riveting and give a frequently surprising insight into life during wartime. As the bombs dropped, levelling cities; life, love and sex went on Eric Brady was five when he and his big sister Kitty were evacuated from their East End home and sent to live in Wales. Girls and boys were separated on arrival, and foster parents got to pick which children they wanted. Nobody wanted Eric. He was the last one left. Eventually and reluctantly, he was taken in by a woman who would have preferred a girl. As the bombs dropped, levelling cities; life, love and sex went on. An actor reads extracts from the remarkably frank diary of Joan Wyndham, a 17-year-old art student who went on to become a celebrated writer late in life. A local smoothie called Rupert tried to persuade her to lose her virginity. 'I can't help feeling that each moment may be my last,' she wrote. 'As the opposite of death is life, I think I may get seduced by Rupert tomorrow.' Edith Heap was 21 when she became an RAF plotter. Young men and women working alongside another was a perfect setting for romance. 'I don't think I really expected to meet Mr Gorgeous,' she says. But she did: an RAF pilot called Dennis. They became engaged, but his plane was shot down and he was never found. 'I do wish we'd married,' she says. 'I wouldn't have cared if it was 24 hours, or two days, or five months.' The documentary both celebrates Britain's defiance and grounds the Blitz experience in a reality that's often played down or carefully ignored. Not everyone, says Liverpudlian Marie Price, who was 17, shared Winston Churchill's indomitable no-surrender spirit. 'We would have surrendered overnight,' she admits. 'We were just people waiting there to be killed.'
