I have seen a great many documentaries telling of the rescue of Jewish people, and family's during WW2, and watched this one only because I wanted to know their story. I found it very boring to view and I thought it lacked a great deal of information; how they actually got to know and plan all the stuff they would need to know to carry out their operational tasks. Maybe that could have been given if less time had been attached to the overly done inclusions of rather unimportant love letters.

I did think that the Unitarian church president was a callously unsympathetic pompous idiot (something that seems to be prevalent in most of the spin off religious group leaders...Mormons, Scientology etc); but so was Waitstill Sharp's attitude towards his wife's desire not to leave their children for a second time to return to Europe. They were both an incredibly brave couple of people, and the people they saved were most fortunate. However! I do not think they were such a good couple when it came down to putting their church (a made up religion at that) before their own children. Something which is in the minds of the kids (which I think you can just tell) even though they do not say it!

It was good that the documentary makers mentioned the betrayal by Britain, the despicable Vichy french etc. As I always feel important points like so are deliberately omitted from WW2 documentaries. Finally! Israel as per usual (as I have found a good many times before with there WW2 heroes awards) took another half century plus to finally honour this heroic couple. Shame on them...again!

DEFYING THE NAZIS is another war-themed documentary from the exemplary Ken Burns. It's slightly different to the others I've seen as it's a one-off feature documentary rather than a lengthy series. The story is simpler and more straightforward and involves a 'Schindler's List' style couple helping refugees escape Nazi-occupied Europe. The Sharps were an ordinary American couple tasked with heading off to Czechoslovakia and then France to help Jewish children and their families escape persecution. This documentary boasts splendid production values and a wonderful mix of footage, photographs, and narrated letters from the era. As usual, Burns has got folk like Tom Hanks to supply their vocal talent and the result is as strong as ever.

I thought it was well done and that it will open some eyes as to what was going on in Germany, as well as other parts of Europe.

You can watch this documentary for free on Netflix.