The Documentary Legend reflecting on His Monumental American Revolution Film Series: ‘This Is Our Most Crucial Work’
Ken Burns has evolved into more than a documentarian; his name is a franchise, a prolific creative force. Whenever he releases documentary series premiering on the television, everybody wants an interview.
He participated in “countless podcast appearances”, he remarks, nearing the end of his extensive publicity circuit comprising four dozen cities, dozens of preview events and hundreds of interviews. “With podcasts numbering in the hundreds of millions, I feel I’ve participated in a substantial portion.”
Thankfully Burns possesses boundless energy, as loquacious behind the mic as he is accomplished while filmmaking. The 72-year-old has traveled from prestigious venues to mainstream media outlets to discuss his latest monumental work: The American Revolution, a monumental six-part, 12-hour documentary series that occupied ten years of his career and arrived this week on PBS.
Timeless Filmmaking Method
Comparable to methodical preparation in an age of fast food, this documentary series intentionally classic, more redolent of The World at War as opposed to modern digital documentaries and podcast series.
But for Burns, whose professional life chronicling strands of US history spanning various American subjects, the revolutionary period is not just another subject but foundational. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein during our discussions, and she shared this view: we won’t work on a more important film Burns states by phone from New York.
Massive Research Effort
The filmmaking team plus scripting partner Geoffrey Ward utilized countless written sources plus archival documents. Dozens of historians, spanning age and perspective, contributed scholarly insights in conjunction with distinguished researchers from a range of other fields including slavery, Native American history plus colonial history.
Signature Documentary Style
The film’s approach will seem recognizable to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. The unique approach included methodical photographic exploration over historical images, extensive employment of contemporary scores featuring talent interpreting primary sources.
This period represented Burns established his reputation; a generation later, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he seems able to recruit numerous talented actors. Appearing alongside Burns at a New York gathering, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “A call from Ken Burns commands immediate acceptance.”
All-Star Cast
The lengthy creation process proved beneficial concerning availability. Filming occurred at professional facilities, in relevant places through digital platforms, a tool embraced throughout the health crisis. The director describes working with Josh Brolin, who found a few free hours during his travels to voice his character as the revolutionary leader then continuing to subsequent commitments.
The cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, established Hollywood talent, emerging and established stars, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, accomplished dramatic artists, international acting community, Edward Norton, David Oyelowo, Mandy Patinkin, small and big screen veterans, plus additional notable names.
Burns adds: “Truly, this might be the most exceptional group gathered for any production. They do an extraordinary service. Selection wasn’t based on fame. I became frustrated when someone asked, regarding the famous participants. I go, ‘These are actors.’ They represent global acting excellence and they can bring this stuff alive.”
Historical Complexity
Nevertheless, the lack of surviving participants, photography and newsreels required the filmmakers to rely extensively on primary texts, combining the first-person voices of numerous historical characters. This approach enabled to present viewers beyond the prominent leaders of that era along with multiple essential to the narrative, numerous individuals remain visually unknown.
Burns also indulged his particular enthusiasm for geography and cartography. “I have great affection for cartography,” he notes, “with greater cartographic content in this film than in all the other films throughout my entire career.”
International Impact
The production crew recorded at numerous significant sites throughout the continent plus English locations to capture the landscape’s character and partnered extensively with living history participants. All these elements combine to tell a story more bloody, multifaceted and world-changing versus conventional understanding.
The revolution, it contends, transcended provincial conflict concerning territory, taxes and political voice. Instead the film portrays a blood-soaked struggle that ultimately drew in more than two dozen nations and unexpectedly manifested what it calls “humanity’s highest ideals”.
Civil War Reality
Early dissatisfaction and objections aimed at the crown by American colonists in 13 fractious colonies soon descended into a bloody domestic struggle, pitting family members against each other and creating local enmities. In one segment, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The main misapprehension about the American Revolution centers on assuming it constituted a consolidating event for colonists. This ignores the truth that it was a civil war among Americans.”
Historical Complexity
According to his perspective, the independence account that “typically suffers from excessive romance and nostalgia and lacks depth and doesn’t have the respect the historical reality, all contributors and the incredible violence of it.
It was, he contends, a movement that announced the world-changing idea of fundamental personal liberties; a vicious internal conflict, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; plus an international conflict, another installment in a sequence of struggles among European powers for control of the continent.
Unpredictable Historical Moments
The filmmaker also sought {to rediscover the
