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Ken Burns has become not just a filmmaker; he represents an institution, a one-man industrial complex. Whenever he releases documentary series premiering on the small screen, everyone seeks an interview.

He participated in “an astonishing number of podcasts”, he remarks, wrapping up of nine-month promotional tour that included 40 cities, 80 screenings and innumerable conversations. “I think there are 340.1m podcasts, one for every American, and I’ve done half of them.”

Thankfully Burns is a force of nature, as expressive in conversation as he is prolific while filmmaking. The veteran director has gone everywhere from historical sites to popular podcasts to discuss a career-defining series: his Revolutionary War documentary, a monumental six-part, 12-hour documentary series that occupied a substantial portion of his recent years and arrived this week on public television.

Defiantly Traditional Approach

Like slow cooking in an age of fast food, Burns’ latest project proudly conventional, reminiscent of traditional war documentaries than the era of streaming docs new media formats.

But for Burns, who has built a career chronicling strands of US history spanning various American subjects, its origin story is not just another subject but essential. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein recently, and she concurred: no future work will carry greater importance,” Burns states from his New York base.

Massive Research Effort

Burns and his collaborators and screenwriter Geoffrey Ward utilized thousands of books and other historical materials. Numerous scholars, spanning age and perspective, offered expert analysis together with prominent academics covering various specialties like African American history, Native American history and imperial studies.

Distinctive Filmmaking Approach

The film’s approach will seem recognizable to devotees of The Civil War. The characteristic technique featured gradual camera movements over historical images, extensive employment of contemporary scores with performers voicing historical documents.

This period represented the filmmaker cemented his status; a generation later, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he seems able to recruit any actor he chooses. Participating with Burns at a New York gathering, renowned playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda noted: “Nobody declines an invitation from Ken Burns.”

Extraordinary Talent

The lengthy creation process provided advantages regarding scheduling. Filming occurred at professional facilities, on location using online technology, a tool embraced amid COVID restrictions. Burns explains working with Josh Brolin, who made time in Atlanta to perform his role as George Washington before flying off to his next engagement.

Additional performers feature numerous acclaimed actors, established Hollywood talent, emerging and established stars, multiple generations of actors, accomplished dramatic artists, British and American talent, Edward Norton, David Oyelowo, Mandy Patinkin, Wendell Pierce, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber, plus additional notable names.

The filmmaker continues: “Truly, this might be the most exceptional group gathered for any production. Their contributions are remarkable. Selection wasn’t based on fame. It irritated me when questioned, ‘So why the celebrities?’. I responded, ‘These are performers.’ They are among the world’s best performers and they animate historical material.”

Historical Complexity

However, no contemporary observers remain, visual documentation required the filmmakers to lean heavily on historical documents, integrating personal accounts of multiple revolutionary participants. This methodology permitted to present viewers not only to the “bold-faced names” of the founders plus numerous additional who are seminal to the story”, many of whom remain visually unknown.

The filmmaker also explored his personal passion for territorial understanding. “I have great affection for cartography,” he notes, “featuring increased geographical representation throughout this series versus earlier productions I’ve done combined.”

International Impact

The team filmed at numerous significant sites across North America and British sites to capture the landscape’s character and worked extensively with re-enactors. These components unite to tell a story more bloody, multifaceted and world-changing than the one taught in schools.

The documentary argues, transcended provincial conflict about property, revenue and governance. Conversely, the project presents a brutal conflict that eventually involved multiple global powers and unexpectedly manifested termed “the noble aspirations of humankind”.

Internal Conflict Truth

Initial complaints and protests leveled at London by far-flung British subjects in 13 fractious colonies soon descended into a vicious internal war, dividing communities and households and neighbour against neighbour. During the second installment, the historian Alan Taylor observes: “The main misapprehension about the American Revolution involves believing it represented a consolidating event for colonists. This omits the fact that colonists battled fellow colonists.”

Nuanced Understanding

According to his perspective, the revolution is a story that “for most of us suffers from excessive romance and idealization and lacks depth and doesn’t have the respect the historical reality, every individual involved and the incredible violence of it.

The historian argues, a revolution that proclaimed the world-changing idea of fundamental personal liberties; a bloody domestic struggle, separating rebels and supporters; plus an international conflict, the fourth in a series of conflicts between Britain, France and Spain for control of the continent.

Contingent Historical Events

The filmmaker also sought {to rediscover the