BigPauly's Monthly Blu-ray Hauls

The ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union intensified the battle being fought in the Vietnam War. The United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union and in 1955 President Eisenhower pledged his firm support to South Vietnam. As troops on the ground took part in armed combat it is said that the aviators had one of the riskiest jobs in the world. Most combat pilots carried their defences with them but there were some that travelled unarmed. The part these men played in the Vietnam War goes under the label of "tactical recognisance". Throughout the war these planes flew over combat targets, carrying cameras as "the eyes of the army". The intelligence they brought back kept commanders abreast of enemy activity. It was the perilous job of the brave combat aviators to fly over the most hostile territories "unaccompanied, unarmed and unafraid".

Lotat is a Finnish Documentary about the Lotta Svärd, a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organization for women.

World War II veteran, Pike Levine, provides a firsthand account of fighting the Nazis from inside a glass bubble under the belly of a B-17. The unenviable position of ball turret gunner took the brunt of the enemy's fury and was considered by many to be simply suicidal. In his compelling straight forward style, Levine tells it like it was, on the ground and in the air. Effective use of historical imagery rounds out this personal film.

Persephone Speaks: The Forgotten Women of Bosnia is a documentary on the use of rape as a war strategy, and a survivor's quest to shed light on the effects this crime has on the lives of women, their families, and society, long after the war has ended.

Peremyshl (now Przemysl), the city in Poland, which in 1939 was literally divided between Germany and the Soviet Union, became again the center of the Wehrmacht attacks in 1941, when World War II was unleashed. In fact, it was the first Soviet city captured by the Wehrmacht. It happened on June 23, 1941 - on the second day of the war. Polish historians and a few extant witnesses tell about the first battles of the war. With the help of local residents film crew managed to make some discoveries associated with the first battles at the border - the facts, which were new not only to the crew, but to professional historians as well.

Growing up in times of conflict - 13-year old Palestinian girls Wafaa and Raneen from two different Westbank villages are faced with the option of going on a one-day trip to the beach in Israel. Although they live only a few kilometers away, they have both never been to the sea. Israeli peace activists organize a day at the beach in Tel Aviv for Palestinian women and children, to let them exchange the view on the Wall against the horizon. One summer morning, Wafaa is preparing for the journey and imagining pretty people in Israel, while Raneen is playing freedom fighter with her friends. Her village is in constant conflict with the Israeli soldiers and for her and her parents it is out of the question to spend a beach day with the "others". Is the day by the sea a one-day utopia? Or a possible future?