"The War" revisited

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"The War" revisited

Posted by rico (A) on October 9, 2007 at 01:00:17

First, I should say that I am not an automatic fan of Ken Burns' work, feeling that his "JAZZ" is seriously flawed, with its heavy reliance on Stanley Crouch and Wynton Marsalis and their idiosyncratic and parochial view of the music and its history, not to mention the passing over of some major figures, such as Bill Evans (who influenced countless pianists) and major movements in jazz, such as Fusion, electric jazz, and the New Thing in the sixties. Having said that, I am rewatching "The War" on DVR and finding it still as moving, both intellectually and emotionally, as I did when I originally posted positive commentary here. I was frankly astounded at the cynical comments my original post evoked. I now think more than ever that it is a masterpiece. The balance between the "big picture" and the experience of the four towns and their residents (something the films make clear at the beginning of each episode), the two conflict theaters, and the fighting and the home front experiences is beautifully achieved. The music is just great, and the repetition is hardly as annoying as the constant use of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was in Burns' "Baseball". Is there too much cynicism here, sdomething I have suspected before? We are just amateurs, he is a professional and he's done a great job here and I'm not ashamed to say that some sequences brought tears to my eyes. I can't wait for the DVD box I ordered from Amazon at a great savings over the PBS price.

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Topic - "The War" revisited - rico 01:00:17 10/09/07 (18)

RE: "The War" revisited - rico 07:51:57 10/10/07 (4)

Well, that settles that - DWPC 13:37:00 10/10/07 (0)

What? - EBerlin 12:34:25 10/10/07 (2)

Wait a minute - rico 17:20:02 10/10/07 (1)

Oh, come on... - EBerlin 19:49:50 10/10/07 (0)

Well I am a professional documentarian... - EBerlin 13:00:37 10/09/07 (3)

I'd like to ask Burns... - Rod H. 16:18:19 10/09/07 (2)

RE: I'd like to ask Burns... - rico 05:20:42 10/10/07 (0)

The problem... - EBerlin 20:17:53 10/09/07 (0)

My opinion of it hasn't improved - DWPC 11:42:34 10/09/07 (0)

"The War"--a complaint... - C.B. 07:10:24 10/09/07 (7)

The PROBLEM with PBS - g.r.hughes 08:49:35 10/09/07 (6)

The War seems to be more about "what" than "why"... - SF tech 17:29:55 10/09/07 (5)

As 'The Civil War' is memorable and haunting so is 'The War' forgettable and hollow. NT - Tony D. 18:07:53 10/09/07 (4)

RE: As 'The Civil War' is memorable and haunting....but pretty bad history - Tom Brennan 18:57:54 10/09/07 (3)

It wasn't meant to be a blow-by-blow recounting - DWPC 14:23:58 10/10/07 (0)

No doubt, but Burns caught the 'feel' of the Civil war IMO. - Tony D. 19:38:16 10/09/07 (1)

RE: Agreed; Burns did pretty well with the Civil War - grinagog 21:25:28 10/09/07 (0)

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