There may be just wars. Necessary wars. But there are no good wars.

The sometimes saccharine sweet, sometimes melancholy and wistful, and sometimes cruel and ugly that is Americana is also the realm in which Ken Burns lives and breathes. It is what he gives us. The people we are. The people we wish to be. The American Dream and the American Reality. He made his name through a series of epic documentaries, first tackling the Civil War, and then peering at America through two uniquely American lenses – baseball and jazz music.

Now, Burns turns his eye towards the most extensively covered time in history, World War II.

It may well be impossible to have something new to say about World War II; to find an angle that has not been covered, recovered and covered again. There is no time or event that has not been the focus of study and commentary. No summation of its grand sweep yet to be made. No observation left without uttering.

And to his credit, Burns does not even try. Rather, over the course of this 15-hour epic, he peers at the war in exactly the way you’d expect: with the comprehensive, deliberately-paced, America-centric gaze that has won Burns both fans and detractors. And yes, it works. It works in spades.

Burns does not focus on any single campaign or front. No single series of events or theater of operations. Rather, he focuses on four American towns and views the war through their eyes. (Yes, non-Americans, this documentary is focused squarely on the American experience. This does not in any way, shape or form discount or minimize the tremendous, unimaginable sacrifice made by all involved in the war. It just happens to be what Ken Burns does. He examines the American experience.) We experience the way through the eyes of the people on the home front and the folks from those towns who were overseas during the war, both soldier and civilian alike. We see the opening salvos in the Philippines, the utter horror of the Holocaust, the surging American spirit at home, and the desolate carnage of the battlefield.

Yes, we do indeed see the battlefield, and plenty of it. Prior to the series’ broadcast, it was touted in some corners as being focused on the home front experience, viewing the war from home rather than from on the front lines. While it’s true that The War peers deeper into the home front experience than other features on World War II, the majority of its 15-hour running time is spent in the battlefield.

The bloody, carnage-strewn battlefield.

Burns is a romantic at heart -- his presentations typically bleed a kind of wistful, "those were the days" vibe -- yet he manages this approach while also being raw and honest and uncompromising. In Jazz, he delves deeply into heroin addiction and the turbulent, often ugly lives these musicians led. In Baseball, he grapples with racism and classism and the elusive nature of the American Dream. In Civil War, even such a seemingly noble quest is shown for the grey-shaded series of events it truly was.

He does the same here. World War II was ugly. It's a fact we cannot avoid.

None of us are naive. We know that war, no matter the war, no matter how romantic wars like WWII seem, is brutal and difficult and full of broken bodies and broken souls. We know this. Yet that makes the carnage Burns shows us no less disturbing to see. This is World War II, right? The History Channel, stock footage, John Wayne, video games, Cary Grant on a submarine. We feel like we intimately know it already.

And it's not supposed to be like this. We're not supposed to see headless corpses and men with no legs and dead children littering the streets. We're not supposed to see this.

Yet we do.

We do.

Like any war, all wars, World War II was ugly and brutal and full of ruined people and ruined bodies and ruined lives. But – and this is important – that does not mean we can never celebrate and honor. We can. We can celebrate and honor the sacrifices made during World War II. In the case of this doc, we view it through an America-centric lense. And see, that's okay. It's okay.

Burns loves America. You can't watch his documentaries without that coming across. It comes across here, too. He's proud of what we did; what we fought; what we accomplished. He's glad of the sacrifice and heroism the Allied soldiers displayed. (And aren't we all?)

But he doesn't let that pride get in the way of showing us the wearying realities of the world's most famous, most celebrated war.

I appreciate that.

This thing, this big, gaint thing, takes a while to get through. Fifteen hours. Seven two-hour-plus episdes. It takes us four hours alone to get to the famed ground of D-Day (Episode Four). Like the soldiers, it takes us seemingly forever to suffer through the Battle of the Bulge (Episode Six). President Roosevelt does not fall until 14 hours have passed by (Episode Seven). Burns takes his time. He doesn't luxuriate in the harshness of World War II, but he doesn't let the viewer off easy, either. He just lingers ... and dwells ... and makes us swallow what the war really was. It makes no claims at being comprehensive. The War is not an all-inclusive history. That's not what this is. Rather than an encyclopedic recitation of the war's history, it is the story – no, a story – of how individuals experienced the war.

That, too I appreciate.

Disc Presentation
No surprise that this set looks fantastic. When it comes to their top presentations, PBS spares no expense. World War II footage never looked this good. Yes, yes, the bulk of this 15 hours is made up of black and white footage and old photos and newsreel clips and the like ... but no one presents stuff of this sort like Ken Burns. If you're looking to show off your home theater, you're looking at the wrong review and at the wrong release. For what this is, though, it looks great. Top-notch transfer for a top-notch presentation.

Disc Extras
I have to confess, despite Burns' documentaries running for hours and hours and hours, I can never get quite enough. The same holds true here. We get a brief featurette, Making The War, which is ... well, it is what you would expect. Solid, capable, but far from the revealing look a feature like this practically demands. Too bad. I'd love a documentary on making documentaries, one just as comprehensive as the core material itself. There are also two commentary tracks on a pair of the episodes, which are good stuff. Burns himself is always animated and lively and intelligent. The final disc contains some additional interviews and deleted scenes. Are they enough to satisfy those who shelled out $130 this costs? Well ... no. No, while there is some good material to be found here, if you've seen this on PBS and feel no great need to see it again it's neither deep enough nor copious enough to justify the price tag. If the DVD releases of these fantastic Ken Burns documentaries have a failing, it is here. This man lives to chronicle the things many Americans don't pay enough attention to. Is it too much to ask that he'll chronicle the chroniclers, too?

The Bottom Line
We know this war inside and out. From start to finish, from Pearl Harbor to D-Day to the Bulge to Hiroshima to the end, we know this war.

We know this war?

We do not know this war. We have never known this war. Alongside the classic The World At War, yet in a different way with a different approach and focus, Ken Burns' The War is essential.