Infamous Assassinations

British documentary filmmaking has long had a strong reputation, but sometimes even a master craftsman can make a mistake, and in this case, the viewer's satisfaction is directly proportional to how little they know about the subject matter. Practically every episode I have had the opportunity to watch has had some unnecessary and foolish errors. They may not be major, but they do not speak well of the authors' attention to detail. Just to name a few, in the last episode I watched the story about the assassination of the Yugoslav king, there was a map depicting the formation of Yugoslavia after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. However, the map was from the 70s and, for example, Czechoslovakia was depicted without Transcarpathian Ukraine. Also, in the commentary on the Balkan War of 1912, the guide claimed that Serbia was fighting against two Muslim states - Turkey and Bulgaria. But Bulgaria is, of course, Orthodox, just like Serbia. And so on. On the other hand, not everyone is a history enthusiast, and generally, the information is correct. For those who studied history in school, it is a relatively decent choice to broaden their knowledge. Just one more note - each episode is introduced with a sentence stating that the motives of the assassination were shrouded in secrecy until now. The overwhelming majority of the events described are familiar to historians, and the series truly brings nothing new. It's just advertising. Overall impression: 50%. (10.02.2010)