When George Stevens went to war, he was primarily known as the director of comic frivolities.
Its kind of remarkable then how few are aware of the directors wartime contributions today.
And not only were they all available, most of them were on the internet.
And Ill never forget that experience.
So when I was approached about this project, it was just a gift.
The docuseries itself is likewise a rare present for cinephiles.
As Bouzereau puts it while crediting Harris with the idea: Five filmmakers?
We need to get five directors!
Because no one else knows better what a director does or is than another director.
But Guillermo zeroed in on Capra as he identified with him as an immigrant himself.
The process definitely wasnt who is the modern day Frank Capra or who is the modern day George Stevens?
I went through my war!
Even as it becomes more elusively so with each passing year.
More insidiously, the hatreds and persecutions that gave rise to the 30s and 40s horrors survived as well.
I went to Catholic school, but all of my friends were Jewish.
Me, because I was friend with a Jew, and him because he was Jewish.
And his parents, who were survivors of the Holocaust, had to come and do a speech.
The 54-year-old director then adds after a moment, Im fairly young, and Ive experienced that.
The residue of all that.
As a director, your job is to tell a great story.
As a documentarian, it is to tell a great story within the context of truth.
I think they also had a duty to the truth, and they also wanted to make great movies.
Sometimes you could hit two; sometimes you could hit only one.
Its an open question the series leaves to viewers of how to interpret.
Its interesting you use the term tangible history, Harris says to one of my questions.
Because Im so aware of how intangible it is becoming.
So its history that I feel conscious of slipping away from us.
Five Came Backwould seem to preserve it for a little longer.
The series is now streaming on Netflix.
