Extraordinarily well done documentary, gets right to the point.
A thorough, scholarly and evenhanded look at the war that went so badly for America for so long. Most American history books devote little more than a few sentences to this war, and if you see this documentary you'll see why. Almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. A truce was finally signed, in which the British dropped their territorial demands, but there were a number of reasons for that. The American victory at the Battle of New Orleans was an exception, not the rule. As President Madison found out after declaring war in June 1812, wars are a lot easier to start than they are to stop. I do wish more heads of state would pay attention to that rather important lesson of history.
This documentary doesn't get bogged down in irrelevant details like so many others do, it gets right to the point of what was happening, and why each episode was important.