The first thing to keep in mind is that this is a time long before people learned about international conflict via TV news. Most people got their information about the conflict in Europe and Japan via news footage played before films and then documentary filmmaking by some of the most important American filmmakers in history. During World War II, five of the nation's best filmmakers went to the frontline: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens filmed not just the aftermath or the impact of war but actual combat. One of many fascinating aspects of "Five Came Back" is how much these men saw their intentions change over the course of the war.
In the early days, they were a force of direct propaganda, filming shorts to play as news footage in theaters that would then collect money for war bonds. They were being instructed by the government in how to shape the national response to World War II. While there was artistic value to even these early films, the projects grew richer and more complex as the war progressed. And, as time went on, more and more complex dynamics of the war were captured or even influenced by this quintet, including how German and Japanese people were going to be perceived after the war, how Americans treated African-American soldiers, and even the idea that filming war gives it a visceral, thrilling quality for audiences, especially if one cuts the bloodiest footage.
All five men were there for the major moments of World War II, unafraid of the danger inherent in it all. John Ford and George Stevens landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to film the invasion. They selected cameramen to accompany them, and knew that not all of those men would come home. These men weren't going there to fight. They were going to there to film. There were hundreds of cameras and dozens of men. Stevens was there when they found Dachau. It is impossible to imagine the shock of that. No one had seen a concentration camp, and yet he was the first man to show arguably the most nightmarish chapter of human history to the world. Of course, he was never the same. The world would never be the same.
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