Ken Burns reflecting on His Latest War of Independence Film Series: ‘This Is Our Most Crucial Work’
The veteran filmmaker has evolved into beyond being a documentarian; his name is a franchise, a one-man industrial complex. When he has television endeavor arriving on the television, everybody wants a part of him.
Burns has done “an astonishing number of podcasts”, he notes, approaching the conclusion of his extensive publicity circuit comprising numerous locations, 80 screenings plus countless media sessions. “There seems to be a podcast for every citizen, and I believe I’ve appeared on most of them.”
Thankfully Burns is a force of nature, equally articulate in interviews as he is productive in the editing room. The veteran director has traveled from Monticello to popular podcasts to discuss one of his most ambitious projects: The American Revolution, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that dominated the past decade of his life and debuted this week on PBS.
Timeless Filmmaking Method
Like slow cooking amidst instant gratification culture, Burns’ latest project intentionally classic, evoking memories of The World at War rather than contemporary digital documentaries new media formats.
However, for the filmmaker, whose professional life exploring national heritage including baseball, country music, jazz and national parks, the revolutionary period is not just another subject but fundamental. “As I mentioned to directing partner Sarah Botstein the other day, and she agreed: this represents our most significant project Burns states during a telephone interview.
Extensive Historical Investigation
Burns, co-directors Botstein and David Schmidt plus scripting partner Geoffrey Ward drew upon thousands of books and primary source materials. Dozens of historians, representing diverse viewpoints, contributed scholarly insights in conjunction with distinguished researchers representing multiple disciplines like African American history, Native American history and imperial studies.
Characteristic Narrative Method
The documentary’s methodology will feel familiar to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. The characteristic technique incorporated methodical photographic exploration over historical images, generous use of period music featuring talent reading diaries, letters and speeches.
This period represented Burns established his reputation; a generation later, now the doyen of documentaries, he seems able to recruit numerous talented actors. Collaborating with the filmmaker at a New York gathering, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “When Ken Burns calls, you say ‘Yes.’”
All-Star Cast
The lengthy creation process also helped regarding scheduling. Sessions happened at professional facilities, on location using online technology, a tool embraced during the pandemic. Burns explains working with Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window while in Georgia to record his lines as George Washington before flying off to his next engagement.
Additional performers feature numerous acclaimed actors, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, diverse creative professionals, household names and rising talent, accomplished dramatic artists, international acting community, Edward Norton, David Oyelowo, Mandy Patinkin, television and film stars, plus additional notable names.
Burns adds: “Honestly, this could represent the finest ensemble ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their contributions are remarkable. They’re not picked because they’re celebrities. It irritated me when questioned, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I responded, ‘These are performers.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they animate historical material.”
Multifaceted Story
Nevertheless, the absence of living witnesses, visual documentation forced Burns and his team to depend substantially on primary texts, combining individual perspectives of nearly 200 individual historic figures. This allowed them to present viewers beyond the prominent leaders of that era plus numerous additional who are seminal to the story”, numerous individuals remain visually unknown.
Burns additionally pursued his individual interest for geography and cartography. “I love maps,” he observes, “with greater cartographic content in this project compared to previous works across my complete filmography.”
Global Significance
The production crew recorded at numerous significant sites throughout the continent plus English locations to capture the landscape’s character and partnered extensively with re-enactors. Various aspects converge to present a narrative more bloody, multifaceted and world-changing than the one taught in schools.
The documentary argues, transcended provincial conflict over land, taxation and representation. Instead the film portrays a brutal conflict that ultimately drew in multiple global powers and unexpectedly manifested what it calls “mankind’s greatest hopes”.
Brother Against Brother
Initial complaints and protests leveled at London by far-flung British subjects throughout multiple disputatious regions soon descended into a brutal civil conflict, setting brother against brother and neighbour against neighbour. During the second installment, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The main misapprehension regarding the Revolutionary War involves believing it represented that unified Americans. This omits the fact that it was a civil war among Americans.”
Nuanced Understanding
According to his perspective, the revolutionary narrative that “for most of us suffers from excessive romance and idealization and remains shallow and insufficiently honors actual events, all contributors and the widespread bloodshed.”
The historian argues, a revolution that proclaimed the revolutionary principle of inherent human rights; a vicious internal conflict, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; and a global war, another installment in a sequence of struggles among European powers for control of the continent.
Contingent Historical Events
Burns also wanted {to rediscover the
