Is 'The Liberator' based on true events? Here's Colorado WW2 hero Felix Sparks' tale that inspired Netflix show
The American Forces Network is all set to release its latest World War II animated drama series titled 'The Liberator' on November 11. The Netflix mini-series revolves around US Army officer Felix Sparks and the true events that occurred with him and his infantry unit as they fought for over 500 days to liberate Europe. The official synopsis of the four-part miniseries reads, "'The Liberator' takes place during World War II where maverick US Army officer Felix Sparks and the 157th Infantry Regiment fought for over five hundred days alongside the Allied forces in Italy."
The show features a new piece of technology called Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation, which was developed by the show’s director, Grzegorz Jonkajtys, a veteran visual-effects artist. The opening title boasts how the 157th brought together men of varied backgrounds, who became colleagues and friends and came close, in ways that wouldn’t have been possible on the separated home front at the time. Mostly, though, 'The Liberator' is a story of the 157th’s noble White commander, Felix Sparks, voiced by Bradley James.
The show is an adaptation of the book titled, 'One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau' that hints at the depth of drama that happened. But the process of turning it into a film traversed years of technical and financial challenges, given the vastness of locations and events. The book was written by best-selling British journalist Alex Kershaw and published to acclaim in 2012 and narrates the story of Sparks, who helped lead the liberation of Dachau during World War II.
James, who has done the voice-over for Sparks' animated character revealed in an interview "I’m very fortunate in that I’ve been enamored with a lot of the characters I’ve been asked to play, so even the homework you have to do is never a chore. I had not been aware of Felix Sparks or heard anything of the history of either him or the Thunderbirds. It’s a story we’ve not heard a lot about World War II, and we’ve heard so many."
Born on August 2, 1917, Brigadier General Felix Laurence Sparks was a United States Army officer who, during World War II, led the 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, one of the first Allied forces to enter Dachau concentration camp and release its prisoners. He later served on the Colorado Supreme Court. The ethnically diverse group of soldiers he trained included Native Americans, Chicanos and White cowboys.
