The first thing you notice about "The War" is the stark edginess of Keith David's sonorous narration, a far cry from the anesthetizing drone of David McCullough (who narrated "The Civil War") and John Chancellor ("Baseball"). The second, though it may take a while to sink in, is the absence of historical talking heads, which, to put it as plainly as possible, reduces the film's pomposity factor by about 95%.

Burns has indicated that he wants his film to rescue America's war experience from the fog of dramatic myth that has obscured it since the release of Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" and Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima."