American Experience - Influenza 1918

PBS has wonderful historical documentary content. I'm very glad to have found DVD'S of some that I missed. And this one, on the 1919 Flu Pandemic, was particularly pertinent to the times we've been living in in 2019-2022.The world was desperately trying to stay ahead, find ways to save people and finally learned ways to combat it. There was a World War going on as well. So many people lost to both events. Many medical advances came out of both the war and the Pandemic, one thing to be greatful for.

It is very similar to what is our current situation with COVID19. A pandemic, war, and many unhappy people with great frustrations about the future due to uncertainty amid a new Covid strain. The documentary is well put together and describes the past, as though it is happening today.A good reflection to help move forward.I highly recommend this presentation.

“Influenza 1918” is a very interesting documentary on the infamous Flu pandemic of 1918. Various historians, scholars, epidemiologists, and survivors of the pandemic are interviewed throughout the film. The DVD is an hour long. While they are different illnesses, I was both surprised and intrigued by the similarities between the 1918 Flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. This DVD is a great way to learn about the impact of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic on world history. While they are very different diseases, this documentary is certainly a perfect documentary to watch given the current situation in which the world finds itself with COVID-19. The quarantine methods favored by medical experts back then are virtually identical---including social distancing (although they don’t use that term and probably didn’t use that term back in 1918).'My only criticism is that throughout the documentary, people kept referring to this outbreak as an "epidemic"---when in reality, it was a PANDEMIC, since it effected people on multiple continents ALL AROUND THE WORLD. An epidemic only effects one society, while a pandemic effects many societies all at once.Despite this one minor inaccuracy, I would still highly recommend this documentary to anyone wishing to learn about this particularly tumultuous period of our history.

I was very pleased with this episode. The problem with documentaries such as this is time. There is a lot to be told in a short amount of time. If you want true in-depth information, then I recommend a book. However if you want a visual, and seeing people who lived through it, then this is the one you want.This documentary interviews several living survivors, which of course were children at the time of the pandemic. They share their memories, the loss of their family and friends, as well as their pain. There are photographs of overcrowded hospitals, reminiscent of the hospital scene in Gone With the Wind.One adult surviving victim recorded her tribulation and her writings describe the absolute pain and suffering she went through. I am a nurse and have worked for 23 years. She shared something that I had never even heard of, in all of those years. I had to look it up. I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say she went through 'hell on earth'.I do want to make a correction though. One reviewer wrote how the second wave was not at all mentioned, in this episode. That is incorrect because it most definitely was. It's important for me to say that because I'd hate for anyone to ignore this, thinking that were true. Perhaps the reviewer saw another documentary and confused it with this one (there is no verified purchase, so that seems likely). Anyway, I just wanted to make that point.All in all, this is a very moving, if not frightening, episode of the great American Experience series. I highly recommend it.

I had some misconceptions about the Great Flu Outbreak of 1918. For one thing, I thought that the disease originated in Europe and was spread in the United States after the Armistice, but it would seem as if the opposite is the case: troops had been exposed to the virus in the U.S. prior to deploying to Europe... with devastating effect. Influenza not only caused more casualties than combat deaths among Americans but also spread to the British, French and, yes, German armies. Eventually it would spread all across Europe (as an aside, my understanding is that Russia was particularly hard-hit).The Army camps were hit at first in the U.S., even as battles continued to rage in Europe. Then it began to infect the civilian population. Spread by airborne contact, it overwhelmed many of the government agencies meant to contain it. Medical science could do nothing, despite all the wonderful strides it had made over the recent decades.This film is very well done, with interviews of some survivors (all of whom were children at the time) and modern scientists. Some excellent contemporary film footage and period photographs make the production very educational and entertaining as well. Also, excerpts read of some of the people who caught the disease or were involved in the desperate struggle to contain it really brings this topic to life.I can't rate this highly enough.

This brief (less than 60 minutes) account of the 1918 Flu epidemic (that killed hundreds of thousands in the U.S.) offers viewers a disturbing look at the health disaster the occurred one hundred years ago. Because the video was produced before the Covid 19 pandemic, viewers have to provide their own perspective. Some scenes show people wearing masks, but the announcer unfortunately comments that masks provided no protection against the deadly flu.

Excellent video on how the 1918 flu pandemic ravaged America. It also shows how we as a country have and have not learned our lessons from that event. With Covid-19/the Coronavirus upon us, this video can give many a frightening preview of what is to come if we don’t stop the spread/flatten the curve. The Coronavirus is not the flu, it’s much worse, but then, the 1918 influenza wasn’t a normal flu either. Very enlightening video.

There’s not enough documentaries on the largest flu pandemic in human history. This documentary is from the late 90’s/early 2000’s.But as the 💯th anniversary of 1918 neared interest intensified in the pandenic. That interest fueled deeper research and investigation revealing a much higher death toll than once thought. This documentary says 30 million worldwide. But today it’s known that a minimum of 50 million but most likely closer to and upwards of 100 million worldwide.4 stars instead of 5 because it needs an update. But still awesome due the fact that it as first hand accounts of survivors.