Ken Burns reflecting on His American Revolution Film Series: ‘No Project Will Be More Significant’

The acclaimed documentarian has become not just a filmmaker; he represents an institution, an unparalleled production entity. When he has documentary series arriving on the PBS network, everybody wants his attention.

The filmmaker completed “an astonishing number of podcasts”, he remarks, approaching the conclusion of his marathon promotional journey featuring four dozen cities, numerous film showings and innumerable conversations. “I think there are 340.1m podcasts, one for every American, and I’ve done half of them.”

Happily the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, as expressive in conversation as he is accomplished in the editing room. The veteran director has traveled from historical sites to mainstream media outlets to discuss one of his most ambitious projects: The American Revolution, an extensive six-episode, twelve-hour film project that occupied the past decade of his life and arrived recently through the public broadcasting service.

Defiantly Traditional Approach

Comparable to methodical preparation amidst instant gratification culture, The American Revolution intentionally classic, more redolent of historical documentary classics than the era of digital documentaries audio documentaries.

But for Burns, whose professional life chronicling strands of US history including baseball, country music, jazz and national parks, the nation’s founding transcends ordinary historical coverage but essential. “As I mentioned to directing partner Sarah Botstein during our discussions, and she shared this view: no future work will carry greater importance,” Burns contemplates during a telephone interview.

Massive Research Effort

The filmmaking team plus scripting partner Geoffrey Ward drew upon countless written sources and other historical materials. Multiple academic experts, spanning age and perspective, offered expert analysis together with prominent academics representing multiple disciplines like African American history, indigenous peoples’ narratives and imperial studies.

Characteristic Narrative Method

The documentary’s methodology will seem recognizable to devotees of The Civil War. Its distinctive style incorporated slow pans and zooms across still photos, extensive employment of contemporary scores and actors reading diaries, letters and speeches.

That was the moment Burns established his reputation; years later, now the doyen of documentaries, he can attract numerous talented actors. Participating with Burns at a recent event, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “A call from Ken Burns commands immediate acceptance.”

Remarkable Ensemble

The lengthy creation process provided advantages regarding scheduling. Sessions happened at professional facilities, on location through digital platforms, an approach adopted amid COVID restrictions. Burns explains collaborating with actor Josh Brolin, who found a few free hours while in Georgia to record his lines as the revolutionary leader prior to departing to subsequent commitments.

Brolin is joined by numerous acclaimed actors, established Hollywood talent, Domhnall Gleeson, Amanda Gorman, Jonathan Groff, household names and rising talent, accomplished dramatic artists, international acting community, skilled dramatic performers, small and big screen veterans, and many others.

Burns emphasizes: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their contributions are remarkable. They’re not picked because they’re celebrities. I got so angry when somebody said, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I explained, ‘These are artists.’ They represent global acting excellence and they animate historical material.”

Historical Complexity

Nevertheless, no contemporary observers remain, photography and newsreels required the filmmakers to depend substantially on the written word, integrating personal accounts of multiple revolutionary participants. This methodology permitted to show spectators not just the famous founders of the revolution along with multiple essential to the narrative, numerous individuals never even had a portrait painted.

Burns also indulged his personal passion for maps and spatial representation. “I love maps,” he comments, “with greater cartographic content throughout this series versus earlier productions throughout my entire career.”

International Impact

Filmmakers captured footage at nearly a hundred historical locations in various American regions and in London to document environmental context and collaborated substantially with living history participants. All these elements combine to tell a story more brutal, complicated and internationally important than the one taught in schools.

The documentary argues, was no mere parochial quarrel about property, revenue and governance. Rather, the series depicts a blood-soaked struggle that eventually involved numerous countries and improbably came to embody what it calls “humanity’s highest ideals”.

Internal Conflict Truth

Early dissatisfaction and objections aimed at the crown by American colonists in 13 fractious colonies soon descended into a vicious internal war, dividing communities and households and neighbour against neighbour. During the second installment, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The primary misunderstanding concerning independence struggle centers on assuming it constituted a unifying experience for colonists. This ignores the truth that Americans fought each other.”

Nuanced Understanding

In his view, the independence account that “typically is drowning in sentimentality and wistful remembrance and remains shallow and fails to properly acknowledge actual events, and all the participants and the incredible violence of it.

The historian argues, an uprising that declared the revolutionary principle of inherent human rights; a brutal civil war, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; plus an international conflict, the fourth in a series of conflicts between Britain, France and Spain for the “prize of North America”.

Contingent Historical Events

Burns additionally aimed {to rediscover the