The Last of Us; The US and the Holocaust

“The world-building is second to none. The wide-open spaces of a deserted America pulse with freedom and possibility, and the city areas are claustrophobic with palpable danger lurking around every corner. It might be the end of the world, but it sure is beautiful.”
Emily Baker, The i

“The Last of Us is undoubtedly a new landmark in the seemingly impossible task of adapting video games. It’s too early to say whether it will satisfy the legions of fans who believe that Neil Druckmann’s survivalist game is high art, in itself. But Druckmann, working with writer Craig Mazin, has his fingerprints all over this tender, well-crafted and blackly comic piece. Right now, HBO is simply operating on a different level to any other network. With The Last of Us, it has another monster hit on its hands.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Although the drama mixes up the narrative with flashbacks, The Last of Us’s origins as a game are occasionally visible in the relentless sequence of challenges that Ellie and Joel must face. At nine episodes, it feels a little long, even if it is truncated compared to its source material. But in its scale, depiction of dread and its believable vision of friendship in disaster, The Last of Us is a rare piece of television: an adaptation that makes you want to rush out and play the game.”
Ed Cumming, The Telegraph

“The accounts given by historians are smart, thought-provoking and never sugar-coated or simplified, which is refreshing in an age of soundbites. But it is the memories of survivors that stick in the mind – the accounts of the Jewish children, now very old men and women, whose communities turned against them.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“BBC4’s The US and the Holocaust is, by Ken Burns’s standards, a relatively short opus, coming in at about six and a half harrowing hours. It is worth every minute. The three episodes hold a mirror to the face of America (and the West) and show an ugly truth staring back: namely its tardiness in helping Jews to escape the evil of the Nazis.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“This is another complex doorstopper from Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein. Their kitemark of once again ensures lapidary narration, immersive memory, trenchant historians and remarkable imagery vivified by intricate sound design.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph