The Pacific – Review
One of my favourite series about the Second World War is the Band of Brothers and so when I heard that some of those who made that series, also made The Pacific, I was very interested. For some reason I was delayed in watching it until recently.
What did I think of The Pacific? It was definitely well done and it reflects the same level of excellence in story telling as Band of Brothers.
Having said that, I have never been drawn to the Pacific theatre as much as I have to other parts of the Second World War. The Pacific is not so much about epic land battles with strategic use of infantry, armour, and air forces.
Of course naval and air power do play a major part of the Pacific war, although not as much in this series. The Pacific is more about a group of Marines and their experience of taking the various Japanese-held islands.
This is one of the reasons I have been less interested in the Pacific theatre. While it’s not really true, it feels like the battle for each island is just a repeat of the previous one. There is not the same variety that we see as the Allies fought across Europe.
Another difference is that while the troops in Europe had a terrible time, there was another level of brutality in the Pacific. The Japanese were not interested in taking prisoners and neither were they interested in surrendering.
I appreciated that this series really went into the emotional cost of fighting in the Pacific. We see some of the same kinds of things happening in the Pacific theatre that we later saw in the Vietnam War. These are stories that we need to hear.
The Pacific is a great series and is definitely worth watching.
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