No one has a more distinctive documentary style than Ken Burns. You know you're watching Burns when the screen goes sepia, when you hear period music, when you see long, slow pans of the camera over still photographs, and when you listen to famous actors squeeze every last emotion out of old letters.
Burns, who already covered the Civil War, is back with "The War," a 14-hour documentary on how World War II affected the four towns of Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota. He presented a one-hour preview reel and held a Q&A with a large audience, including six World War II veterans, last night at the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
Burns said in his introduction before the preview that he was trying to do something different this time around. He said that "The War" wasn't comprehensive because he wanted to make "more a poem, epic, verse." He also wanted to overcome the History Channel's tendency of obsessing over "celebrity generals," military strategy, and Hitler. What he wanted to do was focus on the "utterly human dynamic" of war.
So, what was the experimental, poetic Ken Burns like? In the abbreviated highlight reel, the classic Burns style remained intact. Sepia tones? Check. (Though a little less this time around.) Period music? Check. Pans over still photos? Check. Famous actors squeezing the emotional juice? Check. (In "The War's" case, it's Tom Hanks reading the work of a Luverne, Minnesota, newspaper writer.)
What's different is the visceral impact of the filmed war footage. Burns and his team powerfully edit scenes from the Battle of Tarawa and the liberation of the concentration camps. These scenes are gutwrenching and heartbreaking. He also seems to rely less on talking-head interviews. When he does cut to talking heads, he chooses to speak with the soldiers who were there or the people on the homefront instead of academics and scholars. In one instance, academic Paul Fussell, who thought he was there to be a "Shelby Foote type" in Burns' words, broke down on screen when remembering his own experiences in the war. The poetic Burns isn't any different from the old Burns, only "The War" seems far more intimate and emotional than "The Civil War." More after the jump.
Image from the National Archives and on the official website for The War. The caption reads, "A weary marine in Saipan, 1944."
In the Q&A, moderated by Lisa Mullins of PRI's "The World," an audience member expressed that Burns was too "rah rah" about the role of American troops. Burns responded with, "If you saw the whole film, you would take that back, I promise you." In the introduction and during the Q&A, Burns stressed what he felt was a major theme of the documentary: "War is horrible." And at one point he said that he wanted the whole audience to realize what it was really like to fight: "We wanted to put you uncomfortably in the battle."
Burns also found himself defending what he had put in and what he left out. He's been under fire from Latino groups for not properly representing their experiences in the documentary. While no one asked about that matter explicitly, Burns had answers ready for those who said he left out certain perspectives: "We're not interested in what your surname was, but what your battle experience was." He also said, "It's all about story." Burns believes he is taking history and communicating it to mass audiences through narrative. By that logic, some elements will fall through the cracks.
Overall, the reception was overwhelmingly positive, and many members of the audience stood to applaud. If the preview is representative of the whole, "The War" is a gripping narrative delivered by an amped-up Ken Burns. But the most important critique came from the six World War II veterans who were present. Two of the veterans often leaned in toward each other, whispering excitedly and pointing at the screen when they saw moments of war in which they were involved. They were recognizing themselves and their feelings. Another veteran said as he left, "It's as accurate as it can get."
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