The Civil War

I'm generally not that big on history (I prefer the present), but when the history comes alive so vividly by way of excellent editing, narration, music and interviews, how could I not be interested? Throughout my watching the series, I kept forgetting that 90% of the time the only things on screen were still photographies. I can only imagine the countless hours spent in the editing room, getting every little piece just right. 11 hours, and never the least bit dull, overdone or underdone.

There is nothing I can say about this that hasn't been said (Yes, I am officially on the Shelby Foote bandwagon) except that apparently EVERYONE in the 1860s was wittier than the wittiest person alive today.

By leaving in undefended and unchallenged quotes from Foote such as attributing the cause of the war to a failure to compromise, Burns does seem to want, not just to offer different perspectives, but to include a modern-day justification of the South's position. Despite strange moments of this kind, the series as a whole certainly makes plain the centrality of slavery in the events of the time, and is in general an exceedingly well put-together example of using television to reflect on history.

My Dearest Bub, here I sit after getting some wild bug up my butt over the American civil war. I must be getting on with age. I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights ... always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my farts.

A week or thee ago I realized I didn't really know anything about the Civil War and became interested in learning more. After finishing this series, I got what I was searching for and so, so much more. A grand achievement, including countless quotes and photographs and using these to craft an amazing ride through a dark and fascinating period in history. And I'll be damned if I didn't choke up multiple times during that final episode.

This is how you tell the history of anything. It is the talking head documentary perfected.

An epic film and monumental achievement. It’s not the ‘Ken Burns’ effect’ per se that is most powerful here (as perfectly suited as it is to this very first ‘photographed’ historical event) but rather the repetition of photographs and music in addition to the poetic words of Shelby Foote and the dynamic battlefield maps. These elements unite to challenge the viewer to pay attention to fully appreciate the significance of this war in determining the (re)union of the American states.

[through episode 7, then abandoned] This is well crafted in some respects, but the reliance on Shelby Foote's lost cause nonsense is off-putting and irresponsible, and comes off as foolish incompetence to anyone who knows anything about the topics at hand.

The Civil War is a monument of documentary film-making, informative, powerful, anecdotal, human. Ken Burns changed the game with this one, as he continues to do, year after year.

Definitive and powerful, despite (or because of) being composed entirely of photographs, and lasting around 10 hours.