Oliver Stone Made 'Untold History' for Daughter
Oliver Stone's audacious look at U.S. and world history, The Untold History of the United States, arrives on Blu-ray today with unaired chapters and a bonus documentary, and the Oscar-winning, controversial filmmaker explains to ETonline that he undertook the in-depth, five-year project for the sake of his daughter.
"I made it for my daughter, a 17-year-old in high school, because I know she's smart," says Stone. "I'm not saying it's easy to understand everything, but you can keep this thing on the shelf and you can watch it again and again and start to see things: We're after the big picture, the patterns. Everything in this we believe, everything. It's not a fiction film. It's a different ball game."
Detailing the complex moments and patterns of history from the World War II era to present day, now with a prologue that details the events surrounding World War I, the 10-part documentary was directed and narrated by Stone and co-written with Peter Kuznick and Matt Graham. In addition to a straightforward account of events ranging from the atomic bombing of Japan to 9/11 and the events of today, Untold History reveals new details that went under-reported or we never learned in school, based on archival findings and recently declassified material.
"Emotionally, it's shattering, to go through the Reagan era, to go through the Eisenhower era, to see what you thought was normal behavior is not normal," says Stone, referring to the events of World War II and how they led to the Cold War and our antagonism with Communism, then after the fall of Communism, seeing the U.S. transform from "a national security state to a global security state."
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In addition to a thick and comprehensive, bestselling companion book, The Untold History of the United States Blu-ray contains more than three-and-a-half hours of bonus material, including the new companion documentary featuring a sit-down with Stone and author/philosopher/activist leader Tariq Ali, who worked with the Oscar winner on the documentary South of the Border.