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In Reply to: RE: "The War" revisited posted by rico on October 09, 2007 at 01:00:17
The narrator (?same one Burns used in "Jazz") butchers many of the German names.
Two examples--Dönitz becomes Donitz (no attempt to pronounce the Umlaut)
Torgau an der Elbe (where the Russian and American armies meet at the end of the war)--the final syllable of "Elbe" is dropped. No one, not even the parochial British, pronounces it this way.
I realize that the narrative is "filtered" through American eyes and ears somewhat, but couldn't Burns have picked somebody who has a little familiarity with these names? The guy has obviously never seen these names before in his life, or at least had to pronounce them.
Follow Ups:
I am a professional film maker. I've always worked with producing documentaries and teaching films for science and medicine and some of my stuff I couldn't show you unless I gave you an air sick bag. I greatly looked forward to seeing Ken Burns latest offering but I was sadly disappointed. It seems we get so few and fewer of these QUALITY shows as the years progress and as public and educational broadcasting gets to go begging for money. Considering the time and money he spent on it, I believe the final effect should have been much more satisfying than it was. But this is my opinion. I thought his choice of narrator and choice of music left much to be desired. But overall it was a monumental feat and certainly is worthy of a view. It just doesn't strike me as effectual as many earlier offerings about the war and the Holocaust such as Alan Resnais; NIGHT & FOG. It was long! A weeks worth of 2 hour per night installments is a little too intensive. I thought it certainly not up the the quality of earlier Burns offerings; FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, HUEY LONG,THE CIVIL WAR, ETC.
One man, Adolph Hitler, caused this much suffering in the world. WHY? A Christian nation, largely Lutheran and Catholic, clearly in the wrong, running amok in aggression and racial cleansing. WHY? How could thinking people allow such a person to come to power? Obviously they were deceived. But the outcome of this deceit was truly un-contionable and un-thinkable. Yet, the German people rationalized it, even to the end. WHY? Burns only told the way it was through the eyes of the soldier and common citizens in the US which it affected. And I suppose that's OK. The USA took care of business! It just seems in the interest of humanity that we can't let such a thing ever happen again.
I've also studied journalism and the documentary film in depth and have even taught university level courses in the subject. We certainly need more film-makers like Burns, but more especially when you think about it looking back at 1980s, we could be treated to a cornucopia of fine offerings in any week on PBS; Carl Sagan's COSMOS, THE SCARLET LETTER. PBS is just not producing like they once did here in the USA and most of the material being aired now is more than ten years old and has been bought from the British. The British do a fine job but Ken Burns is the only American film maker making historical films that I see on PBS. I'm sure it's a matter of MONEY and it really shows. I, for one, am hard pressed to find anything on the tube to watch or show an interest in. The quality of American broadcasting is in decline. The major networks can produce one of these "reality" abominations much cheaper that hiring a production company to produce a show like FRAZIER. But it's interesting to note that the No.1 comedy program on TV is a show similar to FRAZIER; TWO AND A HALF MEN.
And it's good film making to that end.
It's not his best work... Or is it?
Like "The Civil War", it's a view of conflict through an American lens.
On that level, I found it very engaging.
I did find the narration and music to be lacking or, somehow, inappropriate at times.
Nicely assembled, and some INCREDIBLE footage.
SF
NT
Too bad "The Civil War" is faulty history. Generally IME the more someone knows about the War of the Rebellion the less they care for Burns' work.
I'm not talking nutbag neo-Con stuff either but things like Burns totally missing the importance of the western theater of the war. The importanr war wasn't between the New York and Virginia, it was between Illinois and Tennessee.
Burns never intended that TCW be a definitive Civil War history lesson. It is was masterful, captivating documentary vehicle that put a generation in touch with critical but overlooked time in their nation's history and motivated millions to study it more deeply. For that, Burns will always have my gratitude. There are only a handful of TV events that have had the impact of TCW.
Don't taze me Bro!!
Assuming of course that anyone alive today can connect with and translate the vibe of that conflict.
I don't really consider his work Documentaries in the usual sense, more like long winded features or series.
For some reason 'The Civil War' really put the hook in me and created a mood that was hard to dispel.
J.B.
it's difficult to do justice to such huge subjects; but we saw the Civil War through the eyes of the people who were there, from frontline nurses to eccentric Generals, private soldiers writing letters home with some great photography + music which seemed consistently relevant to the themes he presented
If Burns Civil War was formulaic, it was a very workable + enjoyable formula
Grins
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