Ken Burns on His Monumental American Revolution Documentary: ‘This Is Our Most Crucial Work’
Ken Burns is now considered beyond being a filmmaker; his name is a franchise, a prolific creative force. With each new television endeavor arriving on the PBS network, everybody wants his attention.
He participated in “countless podcast appearances”, he notes, approaching the conclusion of nine-month promotional tour that included 40 cities, numerous film showings and hundreds of interviews. “There seems to be a podcast for every citizen, and I believe I’ve appeared on most of them.”
Happily the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, as expressive in conversation as he is accomplished in the editing room. The veteran director has appeared at locations ranging from Monticello to The Joe Rogan Experience to talk about his latest monumental work: The American Revolution, a comprehensive multi-part historical examination that dominated the past decade of his life and premiered recently on public television.
Timeless Filmmaking Method
Like slow cooking in an age of fast food, Burns’ latest project is defiantly traditional, evoking memories of The World at War than the era of digital documentaries new media formats.
However, for the filmmaker, who has built a career exploring national heritage spanning various American subjects, the nation’s founding represents more than another topic but fundamental. “I recently told collaborator Sarah Botstein recently, and she concurred: this represents our most significant project Burns states during a telephone interview.
Massive Research Effort
Burns and his collaborators along with writer Geoffrey Ward referenced thousands of books and other historical materials. Numerous scholars, spanning age and perspective, provided on-air commentary along with leading scholars representing multiple disciplines including slavery, first nations scholarship and imperial studies.
Signature Documentary Style
The film’s approach will seem recognizable to fans of historical documentaries. The characteristic technique incorporated slow pans and zooms over historical images, generous use of period music with performers interpreting primary sources.
Those projects established the filmmaker cemented his status; years later, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he can apparently summon numerous talented actors. Collaborating with the filmmaker at a New York gathering, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “A call from Ken Burns commands immediate acceptance.”
Remarkable Ensemble
The decade-long production schedule proved beneficial regarding scheduling. Sessions happened in recording spaces, on location using online technology, a method utilized amid COVID restrictions. The director describes the experience with performer Josh Brolin, who scheduled a brief window during his travels to perform his role as George Washington prior to departing to subsequent commitments.
Additional performers feature numerous acclaimed actors, respected performing veterans, Domhnall Gleeson, Amanda Gorman, Jonathan Groff, household names and rising talent, accomplished dramatic artists, international acting community, versatile character actors, small and big screen veterans, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep.
The filmmaker continues: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast gathered for any production. Their work is exceptional. Their celebrity status wasn’t the criteria. I got so angry when somebody said, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I explained, ‘These are artists.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they vitalize these narratives.”
Multifaceted Story
However, the lack of surviving participants, visual documentation compelled the production to depend substantially on the written word, weaving together individual perspectives of numerous historical characters. This methodology permitted to show spectators not just the famous founders of that era along with multiple crucial to understanding, many of whom lack visual representation.
The filmmaker also explored his personal passion for geography and cartography. “Maps fascinate me,” he comments, “and there are more maps in this film than in all the other films throughout my entire career.”
International Impact
The team filmed across multiple important places in various American regions and in London to preserve geographical atmosphere and partnered extensively with living history participants. All these elements combine to present a narrative more violent, complex and globally significant than the one taught in schools.
The documentary argues, represented more than local dispute concerning territory, taxes and political voice. Conversely, the project presents a blood-soaked struggle that eventually involved more than two dozen nations and unexpectedly manifested described as “the noble aspirations of humankind”.
Brother Against Brother
Initial complaints and protests directed toward Britain by colonial residents throughout multiple disputatious regions rapidly became a brutal civil conflict, pitting family members against each other and neighbour against neighbour. In one segment, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The main misapprehension regarding the Revolutionary War is that it was something a consolidating event for colonists. It leaves out the reality that Americans fought each other.”
Nuanced Understanding
According to his perspective, the independence account that “typically is drowning in sentimentality and idealization and lacks depth and fails to properly acknowledge the historical reality, all contributors and the incredible violence of it.
It was, he contends, a movement that announced the world-changing idea of inherent human rights; a vicious internal conflict, separating rebels and supporters; and a global war, continuing previous patterns of wars between imperial nations for dominance in the New World.
Unpredictable Historical Moments
Burns additionally aimed {to rediscover the