Introduction

Apocalypse: The Second World War (French: Apocalypse, la 2e Guerre mondiale) (2009) is a six-part French documentary by Daniel Costelle and Isabelle Clarke about the Second World War.

The music of the documentary was composed by Kenji Kawai.

The documentary is composed exclusively of actual footage of the war as filmed by war correspondents, soldiers, resistance fighters and private citizens.

The series is shown in colour, with the black-and-white footage being fully colourised, save for some original colour footage. The only exception to the treatment are most Holocaust scenes, which are presented in the original black and white.

It was first aired in 2009 from 20 and 27 August and 03 September on the French-speaking Belgian RTBF then on 23 and 30 August and 06 September on the French-speaking Swiss TSR and finally on 08 September to 22 September on France 2 channel. It was narrated in French by actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz.

The documentary was shown on the Smithsonian Channel in the United States, where it was narrated by actor Martin Sheen, on the National Geographic Channel and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, where it was narrated by actor Jonathan Booth, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, Australia, Romania, and Asia, on YLE Teema in Finland, on Rete 4 in Italy, on IBA, the national public channel in Israel, on RTP2, the national public channel in Portugal, and on La 2, the national public channel in Spain.

Outline of Part 03

As America joins the war and begins to re-arm, Hitler attacks the USSR to complete his domination of Europe before the US can intervene.

Apocalypse: The Second World War Series

• Part 01: Aggression (1933-1939).
• Part 02: Crushing Defeat (1939-1940).
• Part 03: Shock (1940-1941).
• Part 04: World Ablaze (1941-1942).
• Part 05: The Great Landings/The Noose (1942-1943).
• Part 06: Inferno (1944-1945).

Production & Filming Details

• Released Date: 15 September 2009 (France).
• Running time: 312 minutes (total running time).
• Country: France.
• Language: English.

YouTube Link