PBS World War II miniseries World on Fire feels relevant in the coronavirus era

The Boston Globe

"There are stretches — such as right now — when you’re acutely aware of living in historic times. You know that this dramatic, trying moment will make it into the textbooks, and possibly change the course of global history, just as it is profoundly altering each of our lives," says Matthew Gilbert. "Every day, the news is big and bold, and so are the fears of cataclysm and the urge to take care of loved ones. That’s the world reflected in the new PBS Masterpiece series World on Fire, an epic ensemble piece set against the early years of World War II, beginning in 1939. The German campaign, so efficient and aggressive, is making its way across Europe, with resistance efforts and the resulting clashes erupting unpredictably. Everyone is on edge, saying goodbye to the way things are as the Nazis approach, including the show’s loosely interrelated set of diverse characters spread throughout Poland, England, France, and Germany." Gilbert adds that World on Fire, whose stars include Helen Hunt and Sean Bean, is an "ambitious and broad look at the onslaught of war and the ugliness — as well as the occasional heroism, but mostly the ugliness — that it ushered in. If I were judging the show, which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m...., solely on scope and generalized impact, it would probably get an A. It provides a strong sense of life during wartime, the way melodrama can become a pointless luxury, and the dystopian realities that can ensue. But the seven-episode show is built on so many smaller stories, it sells a few of them short. The broad canvas stretches a little too thin." ALSO: World on Fire offers a chillier and occasionally provocative rumination on how hard it can be to navigate an altered world.