Oliver Stone tackles 'untold' U.S. history in new series

I like his movies, but yeah, there is a sense that he's taking something that's known and skewing it which tends to get in the way. He knows his audience has a connection to the topic and I think he gets off on trying to surprise them. Born on the 4th of July and Platoon (Vietnam), JFK (JFK), Nixon (Nixon), Any Given Sunday (football), The People vs. Larry Flint (Penthouse), Wall Street (Wall Street), World Trade Center (9/11). I love Talk Radio tho....but again, somewhat based on a true story of a radio personality being shot so once again I have to ask myself what's real and what's not and that gets in the way of an otherwise excellent movie.

One of the few things I can take from Oliver Stone's take on things is that he seems to like rambling, run-on sentences. I had a really hard time reading that article.

I look forward to seeing the series. Stone is a good storyteller. In fact, I wish Stone would make movies about other charlatans of US lore such as FDR, LBJ, and the biggest one old disHonest Abe.

Has anyone else ever heard of Stone's "English Empire" ? Was that parallel to the British Empire?

Wolfpack. And? This somehow justifies it for the U.S? I thought it was the land of the free. These other places you are talking about have never claimed this. Decade after hypocritical decade. I am not morally outraged. Just pointing out some facts that the Yanks refuse to acknowledge (or love to forget rather while telling the rest of the world what to do).

@nandakandamanda:

Chatting with an old Japanese today and he said that Truman was not worried about dropping an A bomb on Japan. He didn't even see the Japanese as human, rather as "mushikera" was the word my friend used.

Let's not get into this game. Japanese can not win this one given that they hated those evil Europeans and Americans as-well-as what they considered inferior Asian "races".

A country built on genocide and slavery.

As if just about every other country in the world hasn't had mass killings of their own and slavery. The Kings of Europe enslaved their people for centuries did they not? The Emperors and Dynasties of Asia did the same. Muslims have enslaved other Muslims and Europeans. Africans are still enslaving other Africans to this day. What about the genocide of Jews in Europe, Cambodians by Pol Pot, and the more recent genocide in Rwanda.

Please save your moral outrage - perhaps for your own country at some point in it's history.

@OnniyamaNov. 24, 2012 - 11:53AM JST "Yes. The Yanks will get their backs up now. But remember, this is a country that considers people like George W. Bush and Reagan heroes."

Hey, no one suggetsed that THEY could be learning. I will be quite contented that most of the rest of the world learns.

Oliver Stone is a master story teller. He makes stuff that's truly interesting to watch and whoever takes all his tales for the truth must have missed something. In any case, ut's more interesting to see some different interpretations of world events than only one view. Take it for what it is.

Wow! Looks like the America-bashers were just dying for an excuse to come out and play!

great series

I'm watching every episode.

I didn't know Russia was the main factor in Stopping Hitler's advance.

nanda- Tell your old friend the the bomb was intended for Germany. They had the sense to pack it in. The js didn't. Also, the js had extremely little to no respect for anyone but themselves ( looking down on anyone as sub-human ) so tell your j-elder friend to stop playing the victim because it's a very old and very tired old re-run in which the logical world has long been tired of.

Stone quote: "He not only had the right arm of good and power but he had the bomb and the bomb made all his decisions easier to make and I think this was a huge moment in our history."

Chatting with an old Japanese today and he said that Truman was not worried about dropping an A bomb on Japan. He didn't even see the Japanese as human, rather as "mushikera" was the word my friend used.

Sorry to upset the apple cart ... but I like Oliver Stone's works. Hope to see his 10-part series someday ... but reckon it will take a lot of time go through everything.

Heck, Stone can make all the U.S.-bashing movies he wants, Disney movies will always be more popular.

Stone would do well to encourage all nations to tell their 'untold' side of the story, so let's start with japan. There is A LOT of meat to chew on there.

Most of Stone's movies are excellent, though sure there is some bias injected here and there, but FAR worse are people who may have been Stone fans suddenly talking rubbish about the guy when he comes out with "W", just because the man question's their hero.

In any case, better to watch and form your own opinions than form your own opinions then watch (or not watch but keep the opinions about the film all the same).

Considering that many Americans read at adolescent level, if at all, learn predominantly the official dumbed-down version of history, and believe movies to be factual vice dramatization, at least Stone offers a different flavor.

Does he throw any light on the fairy story of 9/11?

The following article, " Oliver Stone’s Junk History of the United States Debunked", does a pretty good job of exposing some of Stone's assertions. I think it should be read before drawing any conclusions that Stone might be completely accurate with his take on US history.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/19/oliver-stone-s-junk-history-of-the-united-states-debunked.html

"A great book to read is the late Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States"

There's plenty of criticism of this book, including this:

Harvard University historian Oscar Handlin: "Hence the deranged quality of this fairly tale, in which the incidents are made to fit the legend."

A better book to read is Dave Barry's "A Sort of History of the United States."

"a country built on genocide and slavery"

Hey, let Oliver Stone do the U.S. bashing here, lol.

"we've taken the darker view of the U.S. actions"

Sure, why not? Makes for more exciting movies, lol.

Yes. The Yanks will get their backs up now. But remember, this is a country that considers people like George W. Bush and Reagan heroes. A country built on genocide and slavery. Furthermore a country that cannot accept criticism. One that is convinced of its absolute moral superiority. A great book to read is the late Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States.

He has not even started and already our american friends are strating to freak out.

It's not so much freaking out, as it is eye-rolling because, inexplicably, some people haven't figured out why Oliver Stone is still considered a film director, and not a historian.

Already our american friends are freaking out.

I'm not American.

This will be available worldwide and change the perception of the US worldwide,

Only among mentally challenged people who have unshaken faith in Hollywood fantasy and outrageous conspiracy theories. The kind of people who believe that "Planet of the Apes" is based on a true story.

Hey I love the commentaries....

He has not even started and already our american friends are strating to freak out. This will be available worldwide and change the perception of the US worldwide, brilliant. The US is on the way down anyway, it will get any help it needs..

PS: And by the way, I REALLY love those commentaries, they really mean you can already aniticipate what it means for the future.

Here we go again. Stone is the master of conspiracy movies. He's made some decent movies, but the majority are way too far out for me. He and Michael Moore are the most whacked out directors out there. They appeal to a large looney left wing culture anyway. "Platoon" was probably his best work. Everything else....

"The Untold History of the United States"

Did Stone consult Dave Barry on this?

Maybe he'll include the consistently suppressed fact that thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Jews from Nazi-dominated Europe found refuge in Japan during WW II and lived safely until the end of the war. .

"Untold History" meaning his anus and things he pulls out of it at random.

Shakespeare did a huge amount of plays about history. Some of them were more accurate than others there’s no question.

Shakespeare wrote his histories to please his contemporary rulers, not in the interests of correcting history.

his take on real-life events

His "take" meaning spinning a bunch of flagrant lies? LIke in JFK, saying that a New Zealand newspaper reported on the assassination before it even occurred? ROFL!!!

He didnt want to....have England re-colonize the world, which is what they did.

Yes, the British Empire is now as strong as ever. Granting independence to dozens of your former colonies is "re-colonizing the world." Well, that IS an interesting "take," alright. . ROFL!!

(Truman) had the bomb and the bomb made all his decisions easier.

LIke the Korean War. Lots of easy decisions in that one, eh. And the a-bomb made such a difference, didn't it. ROFL!!

Sorry, Oliver, you can't write history by concocting even more of your silly, purile conspiracy theories.