Ken Burns: His approach says critic in NYT is too generic--It tells us about war, but not WW II
... “War happens,” [Eric Severeid] explained, “inside a man.”
And that is mostly where Ken Burns decides to look for it in his 15-hour documentary about the Second World War, “The War,” directed with Lynn Novick, now being broadcast on PBS (and to be released on DVD tomorrow). Invoking Mr. Sevareid, Mr. Burns says that his documentary — an “epic poem,” he has called it — is “created in that spirit.” Nearly 50 men and women talk about their wartime experiences, their testimonies punctuated by historical footage and somber narration.
The intention, apparently, was to see the war anew, to see it not from the vistas of generals’ maps and geopolitics, not from the perspective given by the doctrines of nations and the lures of ideologies, not even from the war’s context in history. The intention was to view it from the experiences of those who fought in it and those who knew them. If war happens “inside a man,” Mr. Burns wants to bring it home.
But what a strange history results from this approach, and what a strange effect it creates! Some things we get to know very well, some not at all. We learn about human emotions and suffering, about death and bravery. Other matters, though, retreat to the background, and that unfortunately makes a tremendous difference in understanding war — particularly this war....
[Burns features some interesting stories.] But the stories become miscellaneous, a montage of scenes: the home front, the battle front, the love lives, the tragedies, the war within, history from below. So intent is Mr. Burns on seeming to show “typical” soldiers that he never informs us that some of the central interviewees are in fact distinguished academics and writers. And so intent is he on emphasizing private experience over public considerations that he seems to have filtered out other kinds of accounts.
Read entire article at Edward Rothstein in the NYT
And that is mostly where Ken Burns decides to look for it in his 15-hour documentary about the Second World War, “The War,” directed with Lynn Novick, now being broadcast on PBS (and to be released on DVD tomorrow). Invoking Mr. Sevareid, Mr. Burns says that his documentary — an “epic poem,” he has called it — is “created in that spirit.” Nearly 50 men and women talk about their wartime experiences, their testimonies punctuated by historical footage and somber narration.
The intention, apparently, was to see the war anew, to see it not from the vistas of generals’ maps and geopolitics, not from the perspective given by the doctrines of nations and the lures of ideologies, not even from the war’s context in history. The intention was to view it from the experiences of those who fought in it and those who knew them. If war happens “inside a man,” Mr. Burns wants to bring it home.
But what a strange history results from this approach, and what a strange effect it creates! Some things we get to know very well, some not at all. We learn about human emotions and suffering, about death and bravery. Other matters, though, retreat to the background, and that unfortunately makes a tremendous difference in understanding war — particularly this war....
[Burns features some interesting stories.] But the stories become miscellaneous, a montage of scenes: the home front, the battle front, the love lives, the tragedies, the war within, history from below. So intent is Mr. Burns on seeming to show “typical” soldiers that he never informs us that some of the central interviewees are in fact distinguished academics and writers. And so intent is he on emphasizing private experience over public considerations that he seems to have filtered out other kinds of accounts.