The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
by Ken Burns
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DVD details
Actor: David McCullough, Garrison Keillor, Jason Robards, Morgan Freeman, Sam WaterstonDirector: Ken Burns
Brand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 680 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
DVD Reviews of The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
DVD Review: Moving and Brilliant Beyond Words
Summary: 5 Stars
This five DVD series provides a detailed account of the most tragic war in American history, the Civl War which claimed more lives than all of our wars combined. Narrated superbly by David McCullough, who would later narrate the film, "Seabiscuit," the viewer is led through the events before the conflict to fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg when veterans met again as friends rather than enemies. The last one would die in 1959. The diaries of soldiers, civilians, and leaders of both sides are reread by such prominent actors as John Waterston, Jason Robards, Julie Harris, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, George Plimpton, and Morgan Freeman. Actual civil war photographs are interspersed with modern photography of the places where they fell or suffered the misery of bivouac and deprivation. Sounds of musketry, commands and rebel yells often provide background audio that makes the viewer feel as though he or she is there.
As the stories are told to us, music of the era provides a background that adds to the realism of the time. It will replay in your ear many times over. "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag" were southern favorites. Another favorite would be written by a lady who suddenly awoke in the middle of the night to pen a poem that would be set to an old Methodist melody. It would become the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Nuance and coincidence are thick and so frequent in this series it is impossible to catalogue all of them here. At the first Battle of Bull Run, Wilmer McClain, a farmer decided his home and family were too close to the war. He would move them into western Virginia where four years later, Robert E. Lee would surrender to Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of the farmer's new home. "Dixe" was written by a Northerner. Union forces named battles after rivers or creeks, while Southerners named them after towns. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a college professor from Maine, found the only way he could be released from his teaching post to fight was to go on sabbatical. As colonel, of the 20th Maine, he would hold and defend the most pivotal position of the battle of Gettysburg, the most important battle of the war, and he understood both at that moment. His regiment of fishermen from Presque Isle ME would face farmers from Talledega, AL. Drawing a straight line to both communities found Gettysburg on the line, 650 miles apart from each. A failed officer, drunk, and store clerk would end up leading the US Army. His name was Ulysses S. Grant. Robert E. Lee, was offered command of the U.S. Army, but refused. He would not take up arms against his state. A Confederate officer would capture and board a Union vessel where he would cradle a dying Union lieutenant in his arms, his own son. When President Lincoln orders a new cemetery for the fallen, the Quartermaster General, Major General Montgomery Meggs brings it to the front door of Robert E. Lee's home. Within a year his son will be interred in Mrs. Lee's rose garden. It would later be known as Arlington National Cemetery. Two brothers would meet on the battlefield of Gettysburg, one fighting for the South and the other for the North. After the war, the state of Mississippi would spend one fifth of its budget on prothesis for their veterans. Elijah Hunt Rhodes would rise from the rank of private to general and would meet with veterans for years after the war as Major General Chamberlain would. Confederate Nathan Bedford Forrest would also rise from private to general becoming one of the most feared cavalry raiders of the war. His tactics and phrases would become doctrine of the army to this day. "When surrounded, attack" or "Keep up the scare." Ironclad ships would make their debut and make every navy in the world suddenly obsolete. Abraham Lincoln would be invited to say a "few appropriate remarks" at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery on November 19, 1863. His two minutes of 272 words would forever be remembered as "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address," and it would become the most memorable in American history. The two-hour long speech of 14,000 words by the featured speaker, Senator Edward Everett of Massachusetts would be forgotten. Only his kind telegam to Lincoln, a day later would be remembered, "I would like to flatter myself that I came to the central point in two hours as you did in two minutes." In the greatest irony of all, the rebellious Confederacy would have rampant inflation making the U.S. gold dollar, the most valuable currency they could possess.
What makes this documentary so effective is that doesn't look or sound like one. Ken Burns has proven to be a master at this. He has shown how our civil war has had such a profound effect on the American pysche. "Ashikan Farewell" written in 1963 in upstate New York, is frequently played throughout the story. It has become a favorite at weddings, anniversaries and funerals across America, and is forever linked indelibly to this story. The sounds of commands, horses, and musketfire add to the realism of this production. Historians Shelby Foote, Edwin Bearss, Barbara Fields, Stephen B. Oates, and James Symington, a former congressman bring to life untold personal accounts of those long dead so well, you think they had been there. The true power of a DVD of this stature is that it makes you think and want to learn more. It's power is that you may never tire of watching it.
The actual Civil War defined a nation for people from the North and South, and it continues to this day. Even though it is an event of yesteryear it can no more be separated from us than we could be separated from our own skin. It reveals the resilience and genius of our Constitution. Not a single word is changed because of it. The United States becomes the first nation to have a civil war over slavery, and the first to have elections during one. Before the war, the United States was described in the plural, are. After the war, it was the "United States is," and it has been ever since.
November 11, 2009: For our veterans, North and South, past and present.
Description of The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2005 Director: Ken BurnsThe most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era he depicts. The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. --Dave McCoy
On the DVD
The DVD features on The Civil War provide a wealth of insight, creative philosophy, historical perspective, and educational enjoyment. Twelve years after its premiere broadcast, the film was given a digital facelift, sharpening image clarity, correcting color, and enriching its soundtrack with a remastered 5.1-channel mix, as demonstrated in the "Civil War Reconstruction" featurette. In interviews from 2002, producer-director Ken Burns, historian Shelby Foote, journalist George Will, author Stanley Crouch, and composer-musicians Jay Ungar and Molly Mason reflect upon The Civil War's enduring significance. And Burns's eloquent commentary--selectively included on each disc and totaling five hours--illuminates the historical importance and creative impulse behind crucial chapters of the film. Fifty-seven onscreen biography cards detail important North, South, and civilian figures, and two 1990 featurettes?"Making History" and "A Conversation with Ken Burns"--provide a more personal perspective on the creation of this extraordinary film. Useful for both personal and academic study, these features stand as a fitting supplement to one of the greatest documentaries ever produced. --Jeff Shannon
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