Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Liberator’ On Netflix, A Rotoscope-Animated Series About A Diverse Army Platoon In World War II

Saying that The Liberator is animated isn’t completely true; it was shot in live action and then animated using a method called Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, a CGI-aided version of rotoscoping that is far more detailed than traditional rotoscoping we’ve seen in films like Waking Life and series like Undone. It was the only way to create the epic battle scenes on the long-gestating series, based on a book by Alex Kershaw, without running into a 9-figure budget. Did that enhance the show or detract from the action?

THE LIBERATOR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: With Mike Rowe narrating, we see a map of the path The Thunderbirds, a diverse platoon that went on a 500-day march in the latter part of World War II to help liberate Nazi-occupied Europe. He describes the Thunderbirds as “a unit from Oklahoma, composed of Mexican-Americans, Native Americans and Dust Bowl cowboys, most of whom couldn’t drink together in the same bars back home.”

The Gist: We open in Italy in September 1943, near the beginning of the Thunderbirds’ march across Europe. Captain Felix Sparks (Bradley James) is with his platoon, led slowly through the fog by his sergeant, Samuel Coldfoot (Martin Sensmeier). The platoon gets trapped by a barrage of tank fire from the Germans, and they retreat back to a farmhouse after about a half-dozen soldiers are either killed or captured.

There, the platoon finds a boy hiding from the Germans. Corporal Able Gomez (Jose Miguel Vasquez) translates in broken Italian because their translator, Joe Spigliani (Luca Varsalona) has been captured. Sparks makes sure to tell the boy that this squad, a group of proud Americans that have a long history of defending their territories, will not let anything happen to them.

After Sparks is injured in battle the next day, we flash back two years to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Then a lieutenant, Sparks is tasked with shaping up “J-Company” so they pass a live fire test. What Sparks doesn’t realize is that “J-Company” is actually the base’s jail, consisting of a diverse set of soldiers that have gotten into some sort of trouble, like punching officers. He tells them that he doesn’t care what they do or what color they are, he just wants them to perform. And perform is what he gets them to do, and treats them like soldiers — instead of using whatever stereotypes are prominent at the time.

We cut back to a hospital in Algeria. Because of his injuries, Sparks has a ticket home. But he feels he can’t leave his platoon during the rough winter that they’re enduring. Against doctor’s orders, and the orders of his superiors, he returns to the Thunderbirds.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Band of Brothers, except animated.

Our Take: The Liberator, created by Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive), makes good use of its advanced animation method, allowing the viewer to get into the story without distraction. You don’t necessarily forget that what you’re watching is animated, but there’s more than enough detail in each shot to satisfy viewers who have thought previous rotoscoping efforts have taken some degree of emotional resonance away from the actors playing the parts.

We’re of two minds when it comes to the story, at least in the first of the series’ four episodes. During some of the scenes, where Sparks or someone else (mostly Sparks) is monologuing about the men that he’s sworn to lead, the word that kept popping into our heads was “corny.” Instead of something that took a look at the horrors of war, The Liberator felt at times to be straight out of the ’60s, with lots of flag-waving jingoism, speeches and heroics. Yes, you do see soldiers die and get gruesome injuries, but the actual horrors of battle are still smoothed down in favor of an inspirational narrative, including how Sparks got this squad in shape.

But for all of The Liberator‘s corniness, the actors do their jobs well, playing soldiers who want to fight but also have their vulnerabilities. And the animation style gives the story a life that seeing in regular live-action wouldn’t. If the show were shot conventionally, it would have felt just like every other World War II drama that we’ve seen in the past 30 years, which had a combination of horror, brotherhood and inspiration. But the animation gives the viewer a different perspective that makes the material more interesting than it might have been.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Back in the foxhole with Sgt. Coldfoot, Sparks tells his happy second, “What are you looking at, Sergeant?” He’s handed the shotgun that the Italian boy gave to him in September, and Sparks joins in the battle like he never left.

Sleeper Star: Martin Sensmeier does a good job as Coldfoot, whose anger over having been passed over for a promotion led to him languishing in the base’s jail. He went from being someone who thought the system was against him to Sparks’ trusted second, simply because Sparks actually believed in him.

Most Pilot-y Line: There’s an extended scene of Spigliani being questioned by a German officer who knows the U.S. well, since he studied there. While the officer was able to get some intelligence about some bridges the unit had crossed, we’re not sure what relevance the scene has to the rest of the series, at least a relevance that justifies the scene’s length.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Liberator would not have worked if it wasn’t animated, due to its speechifying corniness. But the fine acting and arresting visual style takes the WWII drama from mundane to at least watchable.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Liberator On Netflix