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Ken Burns is now considered beyond being a historical storyteller; he is a brand, an unparalleled production entity. When he has project heading for the television, everyone seeks an interview.

He participated in “countless podcast appearances”, he remarks, wrapping up of nine-month promotional tour featuring 40 cities, numerous film showings and hundreds of interviews. “I think there are 340.1m podcasts, one for every American, and I’ve done half of them.”

Fortunately the filmmaker is incredibly dynamic, as loquacious behind the mic as he is productive during post-production. The 72-year-old has traveled from historical sites to mainstream media outlets to promote his latest monumental work: The American Revolution, a monumental six-part, 12-hour documentary series that occupied the past decade of his life and premiered this week on PBS.

Classic Documentary Style

Comparable to methodical preparation in an age of fast food, The American Revolution is defiantly traditional, evoking memories of The World at War rather than contemporary streaming docs new media formats.

For the documentarian, who has built a career documenting American historical narratives spanning various American subjects, the revolutionary period represents more than another topic but essential. “I said this to my co-director Sarah Botstein recently, and she concurred: this represents our most significant project Burns contemplates from his New York base.

Extensive Historical Investigation

Burns and his collaborators along with writer Geoffrey Ward referenced numerous historical volumes and primary source materials. Dozens of historians, spanning age and perspective, offered expert analysis along with leading scholars covering various specialties including slavery, Native American history and imperial studies.

Distinctive Filmmaking Approach

The documentary’s methodology will appear similar to fans of historical documentaries. Its distinctive style incorporated gradual camera movements over historical images, extensive employment of contemporary scores with performers interpreting primary sources.

That was the moment Burns established his reputation; decades afterwards, currently the elder statesman of documentary filmmaking, he can attract any actor he chooses. Appearing alongside Burns during a recent appearance, acclaimed writer Lin-Manuel Miranda commented: “When Ken Burns calls, you say ‘Yes.’”

All-Star Cast

The decade-long production schedule also helped in terms of flexibility. Sessions happened at professional facilities, in relevant places and remotely via Zoom, a tool embraced amid COVID restrictions. Burns explains working with Josh Brolin, who found a few free hours in Atlanta to perform his role as the revolutionary leader prior to departing to other professional obligations.

Brolin is joined by Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Morgan Freeman, Paul Giamatti, Domhnall Gleeson, Amanda Gorman, Jonathan Groff, multiple generations of actors, celebrated film and stage performers, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Tobias Menzies, skilled dramatic performers, Wendell Pierce, Matthew Rhys, Liev Schreiber, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep.

The filmmaker continues: “Frankly, this may be the best single cast ever assembled for any movie or television show. Their contributions are remarkable. Their celebrity status wasn’t the criteria. I got so angry when somebody said, regarding the famous participants. I responded, ‘These are performers.’ They represent global acting excellence and they animate historical material.”

Historical Complexity

Still, the absence of living witnesses, photography and newsreels required the filmmakers to lean heavily on historical documents, combining personal accounts of nearly 200 individual historic figures. This methodology permitted to show spectators not just the famous founders of the revolution plus numerous additional who are seminal to the story”, many of whom never even had a portrait painted.

Burns additionally pursued his individual interest for maps and spatial representation. “I love maps,” he observes, “and there are more maps throughout this series versus earlier productions across my complete filmography.”

Global Significance

The production crew recorded across multiple important places throughout the continent and British sites to capture the landscape’s character and collaborated substantially with living history participants. Various aspects converge to present a narrative more violent, complex and globally significant than the one taught in schools.

The documentary argues, represented more than local dispute about property, revenue and governance. Conversely, the project presents a blood-soaked struggle that eventually involved multiple global powers and improbably came to embody described as “mankind’s greatest hopes”.

Civil War Reality

What had begun as a jumble of grievances aimed at the crown by American colonists throughout multiple disputatious regions soon descended into a brutal civil conflict, dividing communities and households and turning communities into battlegrounds. In episode two, academic Alan Taylor comments: “The greatest misconception regarding the Revolutionary War involves believing it represented that unified Americans. It leaves out the reality that it was a civil war among Americans.”

Nuanced Understanding

In his view, the independence account that “generally is drowning in sentimentality and idealization and is incredibly superficial and fails to properly acknowledge for what actually took place, every individual involved and the incredible violence of it.

The historian argues, an uprising that declared the transformative concept of fundamental personal liberties; a brutal civil war, dividing revolutionaries and royalists; plus an international conflict, the fourth in a series of wars between imperial nations for control of the continent.

Unpredictable Historical Moments

Burns also wanted {to rediscover the