Thread: Hispanics Demand WWII (K Burns) TV Series include Hispanics.

Burns Says Hispanic Demands for WWII Film Have Been Met
July 13, 2007

Hal Boedeker -- The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Filmmaker Ken Burns said Wednesday that he planned no additional changes to The War, his epic about World War II, after meeting an agreement with Hispanic groups to include Latino veterans in the PBS series.

"This is as far as we can go," he said. "We're coming up on this broadcast."

The War, a seven-part series, will premiere Sept. 23 and unfold during two weeks.

Burns added sections at the end of the first and sixth episodes about two Hispanic soldiers. The War also incorporates an American Indian story.

The new material runs about a half-hour in an epic that lasts 15 hours and is joined seamlessly to the film that Burns completed 1 1/2 years ago.

"We've not only lived up to it, we've doubled the number of scenes," Burns said of the agreement.

Burns, speaking to television critics who are here previewing the fall season, said he didn't know whether the additions would satisfy groups that had complained about the omissions.

"There are a lot of different people with a lot of different agendas and a lot of different concerns," he said.

"We listened as hard as we could and tried to hear beyond the rhetoric and the politics."

Paula Kerger, president of PBS, called The War "the centerpiece of next season's PBS lineup."

She added that the Hispanic groups' concerns "remind us that in public broadcasting, we will always be held to a higher standard."

The film focuses on four towns: Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif; and Luverne, Minn.

"We made a film in which we were not attempting to find out what made people distinct and different, but what made them the same," Burns said.

"We were looking for specific combat experiences. We weren't trying to get every single group lined up."

A soldier's haunted face will be used to promote the film. Burns said the veteran had the pain of the war with him constantly and died in his 60s.

"It comes down to us again as this good war. It wasn't," Burns said.

"It can't be that sanitized, morning in America, Madison Avenue version of war all the time."




Source: Copyright (c) 2007, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

introducing race where there is no race.... war knows no race or religion...

only if you feel inadequate do you demand "recognition"...

like the dwarfs that picked the tallest buildings in the world to attacK...

Originally Posted by mdillon1172

She added that the Hispanic groups' concerns "remind us that in public broadcasting, we will always be held to a higher standard."

And that a little PC extortion and arm-twisting goes along way at PBS!

Hispanics "demand" this...Hispanics "demand" that...Hispanics "demand"...

Geez...why don't they go back to their own country and make their demands there?

They left my family out too....who do I need to complain to?

Another example of their not wanting to assimilate instead they think of themselves as being seperate.

I have never thought to myself gosh let me check this movie and make sure there is my ethnic race in it or I am going to have a tizzy fit...........this is wrong and it cannot continue,it is effecting our country.

They are actually shooting themselves in the foot because more & more citizens are getting real tired of this kind of behavoir.

Their attempt to liken themselves to the african american's struggle in this country really ticks people off !!

They probabaly think they won the war.

there are those "Mex-Americans", like Raoul Lowery Contreras at another "hispanic" website (hispanicvista.com) who would say that WWII could not have been fought, let alone won without the brilliant direction from Latino tacticians and strategists....as if there could only have been American and Mexican strategists, no other nationalities or races or ethnic groups

there surely were many in all wars (even the Civil War where 24% were foreign-born), but the fact that "Latinos" have this incessant need to be "recognized as a race", tells me that they feel inadequate and must have third-party approval... or proof of achievement. It is their demand to be "separate" rather than part of the "whole"... that's why they come up with these convoluted rationales for keeping "dual nationalities, and bi-cultural lives".... the avoidance of assimilation, or fear of assimilation?

like the dwarfs that attacked the world's tallest towers, they must find the biggest achievement and make it even bigger.... instead of letting achievements speak for themselves... (my opinion)

I say we give a HUGE appreciation for the Mexicans who fought......alongside Davey Crocket at the Alamo

Soldiers from all ethnic groups fought for the allies in WWII. Are they ALL represented, and equally?? I haven't seen a screening of the documentary, but are there two German-Americans featured, two Irish-Americans, two Polish-Americans etc. ?? The point is WE won WWII as ONE nation, ONE people -- good over evil. I wish the hispanic pressure groups would leave their political agendas at home for once.