The World at War and Harvey Milk

The World at War was a 24 part documentary series that looked over World War II. It also covered many things from strategies, to key battles, and the struggles of the Jewish people. The one we viewed in class was something I have never seen before. The episode took the side of the German Army and showed them over throw a Russian stronghold. This was unique to me because every WWII documentary or film that I have watched in my life has been on the Allies.
This documentary was extremely controlled and showed the viewer strictly what the filmmaker wanted us to see. The narration was the typical Voice of God style that we have seen countless times. The way this film worked was very simple. It would show clips of soldiers marching and fighting, and after a key battle it would cut to a battle map where the only thing the viewer could see is a pointer and symbols that represent the German and Russian Armies.
In this entire series the narrator is viewed only once between the 24 episodes, and the one time he is seen is to warn the viewers of the dark and terrible images they would be viewing in the up coming episode. This episode was about the Jews and their mass execution/prosecution.
The other film we viewed on that day in class was The Times of Harvey Milk. The way this film was constructed interested me. It opened the exact way it ended. This made it seem like the film was coming back around full circle. The opening/ending scene was of a woman at a press conference announcing the assassination of both Harvey Milk and the mayor of California. Why was Harvey targeted? Well he was gay, and this was before the gay activist movements. Some say Harvey was the father of the movement since he was the first openly gay person to hold a political seat. Harvey knew he could be the target of an assassination attempt so he wrote his will. This was read after his cold blooded murder. In the will it's stated that he is one of the leaders of the gay movement for all of his brothers and sisters.
The narrator of this film was Harvey Fierstein. The reason this is important is because Mr. Fierstein is gay himself. Why would the director choose a gay person to narrate a film of a gay man? It is left to speculation, but the relation is clearly apparent.