The little known story of one of the worst non-combat disasters in the history of the US Navy, …AS IF THEY WERE ANGELS is a story of courage, heart, sacrifice and the heroism of miners & fishermen of 2 small towns, who risked their lives to save nearly 200 American sailors, shipwrecked on the rugged cliffs of Newfoundland. Narrated by Peter Coyote, it’s a deeply layered tale of navigation errors, courts martial mistakes, a steep loss of life, and resonates today as if the very telling of its deep humanity offers a lifeline for our fractured times.
Related Movies
Remember (NaN)
This short documentary produced by the University of Oregon Multimedia Journalism graduate program explores memories of Portland's Japantown – Nihonmachi – and the thriving Japanese American community in Oregon prior to World War II. The film features Chisao Hata, an artist, teacher and activist, and Jean Matsumoto, who was incarcerated at the Portland Assembly Center and in the Minidoka concentration camp as a child.
Spell Your Name (2006)
Survivors tell the story of the Babyn Yar massacre from WWII, where some 100,000 people were massacred by German forces.
The Silent Village (1943)
The true story of the massacre of a small Czech village by the Nazis is retold as if it happened in Wales.
Omoiyari (2022)
Violinist and songwriter Kishi Bashi travels on a musical journey to understand WWII era Japanese Incarceration, assimilation, and what it means to be a minority in America today.
Le Petit Vingtième : le siècle de Tintin (1995)
From the beginning, Hergé's work, Tintin's creator, was conditioned by the ideology of his publisher, the weekly child supplement of a Belgian Catholic newspaper. An exciting analysis of the political meaning of the adventures of Tintin.
Ordinary Men: The "Forgotten Holocaust" (2022)
Six million Jews died during World War II, both in the extermination camps and murdered by the mobile commandos of the Einsatzgruppen and police battalions, whose members shot men, women and children, day after day, obediently, as if it were a normal job, a fact that is hardly known today. Who were these men and how could they commit such crimes?
They Saw Japan at War (2024)
The story of a Franco-Belgian family living in Japan from 1927 to 1947, a time of prosperity and fortune, but also of political turbulence and war.
Great Bug (2023)
From far up, humans look like ants. Or like a virus, driven by consumption and mass production, attacking the earth's resources.
Night and Fog (1959)
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
Voices of the Battle of Britain (2015)
Based on the book of the same title by best-selling author Henry Buckton, this film is enhanced by a fascinating series of interviews with a wide variety of people who played a vital role in Britain’s ‘finest hour’. Included are the captivating accounts of six fighter pilots who risked their lives day after day to combat the Luftwaffe, which was at that time greatly more experienced in aerial warfare. Their memories are enhanced by the recollections of a gunner, two members of the 400,000-strong ground crew who kept as many aircraft flying as possible, a barrage balloon operator and men who helped to build Spitfires.
Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing (1940)
British Air Ministry short film highlighting the need for the public to stay clear of aircraft wreckage during World War II.
V.J. Day Celebrations (1945)
Soon after the VE Day celebrations, there is a second chance to let the hair down, and these dancers make the most of it with much humour.
In the back of history - The lost villages of Masuria (2018)
In September of 2017 German writer and director Daniel Raboldt accompanied a group of German and Polish scientists and students into the woods of Masuria, Poland. The expedition aimed to find traces of the so-called "lost villages", left by the Masurians around 1945 by the end of the Second World War. Today only some of the old graveyards can be found deep in the woods of the beautiful Masurian landscape. The documentary "In the back of history - The lost villages of Masuria" shows the students at their work in the historic archives and in the woods. How conclusive can this kind of historic research be? How much can we really learn by looking through old files or other sources? And what can we learn from the vanishing of the Masurians? Do we face similar problems today? The film dives deep into themes like the rise of nationalism and identity and uncovers the tragic end of a population that was asked one simple question in the early 20th century: Stay or Leave?
Facing the Phantoms (2009)
French film and WWII historian Sylvie Lindeperg analyzes Alain Resnais's seminal 1956 film, "Night and Fog", and attempts to place it in the context of the historical treatment of WWII, and specifically of the Holocaust, in the decade following those harrowing events. Oddly, she argues that the images of Resnais's famous film are "powerless", in her words.
Bread and a Blanket (2020)
On December 13 of 1943 the Nazi occupation army in Greece executed all the male population of the town of Kalavryta while burning it to the ground. Three men who witnessed these events as kids remember.
The Blitzed Cities of Bristol and Bath (1942)
Vivid colour footage of the wartime devastation wreaked on Bristol and Bath - and the barely affected village of Chew Magna.
Pearl Harbor: Waking The Sleeping Giant (2009)
On the morning of December 7, 1941, aircraft and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began a surprise attack on the U.S. Despite long standing assertions that this attack could have been predicted and prevented by the U.S. military, the U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor appeared to be utterly unprepared. This is the story of the attack that drew the U.S. into World War II. This exclusively licensed series contains a plethora of compelling images and film footage from before and after this historic battle.
Avenging Evil (2019)
In 1946, just after the end of World War II, a secret organization of Holocaust survivors plans a terrible revenge: since the Nazis have killed millions of Jews, they will kill millions of Germans.
The King Who Fooled Hitler (2019)
In a tale of double agents and decoys, this documentary reveals, for the first time, the story of King George VI's elaborate ruse to divert German attention away from the Normandy landings in 1944.
Memories of a World War II Hero: Captain Brown's Story (2014)
Tells the story of probably the world's greatest pilot through an extensive and in-depth interview: Capt Eric "Winkle" Brown CBE, DSC, AFC. From his flight with WW1 German fighter ace Ernst Udet in 1936 through to commanding a squadron of Buccaneers at the height of the Cold War, we hear how "Winkle" Brown experienced the rise and fall of Nazism; how he flew the most dangerous, uncontrollable aircraft, how he cheated death countless times.