Ken Burns on His Revolutionary War Project: ‘We Won’t Work on a More Important Film’
The acclaimed documentarian has evolved into beyond being a filmmaker; he represents an institution, a one-man industrial complex. When he has project heading for the television, everybody wants his attention.
The filmmaker completed “countless podcast appearances”, he remarks, approaching the conclusion of his marathon promotional journey featuring 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.”
Fortunately the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, equally articulate in interviews as he is prolific while filmmaking. At seventy-two has traveled from Monticello to popular podcasts to discuss his latest monumental work: this historical epic, a monumental six-part, 12-hour documentary series that consumed ten years of his career and arrived this week through the public broadcasting service.
Timeless Filmmaking Method
Comparable to methodical preparation in today’s rapid-consumption era, Burns’ latest project is defiantly traditional, evoking memories of historical documentary classics as opposed to modern streaming docs new media formats.
But for Burns, who has built a career chronicling strands of US history including baseball, country music, jazz and national parks, its origin story represents more than another topic but essential. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein the other day, and she agreed: we won’t work on a more important film Burns states by phone from New York.
Comprehensive Scholarly Work
The filmmaking team and screenwriter Geoffrey Ward drew upon countless written sources and other historical materials. Numerous scholars, spanning age and perspective, provided on-air commentary together with prominent academics from a range of other fields like African American history, Native American history and imperial studies.
Signature Documentary Style
The film’s approach will seem recognizable to viewers of Burns’ earlier work. The unique approach incorporated gradual camera movements through archival photographs, abundant historical musical selections featuring talent interpreting primary sources.
That was the moment Burns established his reputation; a generation later, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he can attract virtually any performer. Appearing alongside Burns at a recent event, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “Nobody declines an invitation from Ken Burns.”
Extraordinary Talent
The extended filming period provided advantages regarding scheduling. Recordings took place at professional facilities, at historical sites and remotely via Zoom, a tool embraced amid COVID restrictions. Burns explains collaborating with actor Josh Brolin, who made time during his travels to record his lines portraying the founding father prior to departing to other professional obligations.
Brolin is joined by multiple distinguished artists, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, Domhnall Gleeson, Amanda Gorman, Jonathan Groff, multiple generations of actors, celebrated film and stage performers, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Tobias Menzies, versatile character actors, Wendell Pierce, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber, and many others.
Burns adds: “Honestly, this could represent the finest ensemble recruited for any project. They do an extraordinary service. Selection wasn’t based on fame. It irritated me when questioned, about the prominent cast. I go, ‘These are actors.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they vitalize these narratives.”
Historical Complexity
Nevertheless, the lack of surviving participants, visual documentation required the filmmakers to depend substantially on the written word, weaving together personal accounts of nearly 200 individual historic figures. This allowed them to introduce audiences not only to the “bold-faced names” of that era plus numerous additional essential to the narrative, numerous individuals remain visually unknown.
Burns additionally pursued his personal passion for maps and spatial representation. “I love maps,” he notes, “with greater cartographic content throughout this series versus earlier productions across my complete filmography.”
Global Significance
The production crew recorded at numerous significant sites throughout the continent plus English locations to preserve geographical atmosphere and collaborated substantially with historical interpreters. These components unite to tell a story 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. Rather, the series depicts a brutal conflict that ultimately drew in more than two dozen nations and unexpectedly manifested what it calls “humanity’s highest ideals”.
Brother Against Brother
What had begun as a jumble of grievances aimed at the crown by American colonists throughout multiple disputatious regions soon descended into a bloody domestic struggle, setting brother against brother and creating local enmities. In one segment, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The primary misunderstanding concerning independence struggle centers on assuming it constituted a consolidating event for colonists. This omits the fact that Americans fought each other.”
Sophisticated Interpretation
For him, the revolutionary narrative that “typically suffers from excessive romance and wistful remembrance and remains shallow and insufficiently honors actual events, all contributors and the widespread bloodshed.”
The historian argues, a revolution that proclaimed the transformative concept of fundamental personal liberties; a bloody domestic struggle, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; and a worldwide engagement, another installment in a sequence of wars between imperial nations for the “prize of North America”.
Unpredictable Historical Moments
The filmmaker also sought {to rediscover the
