The Civil War; as portrayed by Ken Burns.

For my blog post this week, I watched the Ken Burns' series 'The Civil War.' (Yes, all 9 hours, a fascinating montage of photos zipping through space eighteen hours long.) Although I'm not by any means an expert on the Civil War, the narrative offered by Mr. Burns seems solid. I feel that his treatment of the contentious issues which still divide north and south were both accurate and well explained. (For the people of Mississippi: No, the war was not about States' Rights, and the was not entirely a referendum of human right as many in Massachusetts or similar locales would argue.)

But we're not here to describe the historical content of the film, but rather to assess the effectiveness of the medium in transmitting historical narratives.

It seems appropriate then to begin with the most basic element of film-making- the scene. Because of the understandable lack of the video, Mr. Burns' series is essentially a moving montage spiced liberally with talking heads. While certainly not the most exciting format, the lack of any better alternatives makes this an effective tool. When collecting the scenes together, Mr. Burns does an excellent job of maintaining a feel of motion and story-telling that is wholly appropriate for the historical process. I didn't ever feel as though the disembodied heads were droning on, nor did the narrator speed through key events by means of a fact-shotgun approach. Mr. Burns' narrative is crafted excellently, leading to tension and resolution, that I would consider is superior to most written work.

It's difficult to judge the use of technical elements in this film. Although I understand that Burns invented a new piece of film equipment in order to allow his pictures to fly through space in never before achieved fashion. The little of use of lighting and color which were used, were blended fairly seamlessly into the piece. Preferring to create visual tension and contrast than to obscure the vision or scream obscenities at the audience. Similarly, the use of sound was expertly managed. The period-esque voice overs, with appropriate regional differences, tended to ingratiate themselves in your mind. (I spent an entire day thinking in the voice of 'Midwestern drummer boy') But as in the case of the film, this option beats out all the alternatives. At least the voice acting was done professionally, and is devoid of over acting and gross stereotypes.

In general, the series serves as an interesting primer on Civil War. And certainly stands among the prodigious productions in the field like American Experience and other PBS films. Even in instances where the source material is actually moving, in color, and more abundant generally.