Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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80 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful! For all fans of Ken Burns, 10 Feb 2004
If you have seen and enjoyed Ken Burns' legendary documentary mini-series, The American Civil War, then you will not be disappointed by The West.Burns employs the same techniques (letters, photos, old maps, drawings with Hollywood actors providing the voices and historians occasionally fleshing out the tones) to tell the story of the American West. It is a wonderful story told from every angle. If you enjoy American history and value good film-making, then do not miss this wonderful documentary series.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Definitive documentary but at a pedestrian pace, 16 Dec 2007
This landmark series will probably always be the definitive series on how the West was "won". These vast roaming plains were initially the home to the various Indian tribes & equally vast herds of bison.
The video deals with the slow dispossession of the Indians to these lands. Initially the impact of the white man was inconsequential as they only had to deal with hunters, traders & trappers. These were hardy frontiersmen who impinged little on the Indians traditional way of life except for 3 things - guns, horses & booze.
This idyll was about to change irrevocably with the discovery of gold in California & the building of the railroads across the continent. With the opening up of the West, came the immigrants from Europe and the outlaws, unemployed & adventurers from the east coast. Their voracious appetite for land meant the slow inexorable dispossession of the Indian peoples despite treaties to the contrary. By reneging on these promises, the Indians experienced the eventual demise of their traditional way of life. Part of this change was wrought by the utter destruction of the bison heads - once estimated to number up to 30 million - to the point of their imminent extinction.
Ironically the greatest victory of the Indians against the white man viz the slaughter of the federal troops under George Custer at Little Bighorn was the prelude to their eventual rounding up & placement in reservations.
One gets a sense of the dichotomy of the opening up of the West to development but also the simultaneous destruction of the Indian way of life.
This reviewer certainly finds fault in the production. These principally revolve around what I refer to as the cardinal sins of documentary making. The first relates to the repeated use of the same footage. The existence of plentiful footage of certain aspects was probably problematic and a huge challenge but it was not overcome. Secondly was the display of a photo or scene for lengthy periods whilst some quote was made. The accepted practice to overcome this problem when using stills is to zoom in on an aspect of the picture & then to zoom out. To merely have a static image of the screen is unacceptable. Thirdly the episodes are too long. It would have been preferable to have a maximum length of 50 minutes. All of these negatives tend to make the pace tedious & pedestrian which detracts from an otherwise impressive presentation.
There is no other video which deals so comprehensively with this subject & deals with its epic scale. For all those wanting such a compelling overview of the subject, this is the DVD to buy but be prepared to loose focus occasionally.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely compelling and triumphant docmentary, 10 Oct 2008
Ken Burns has captured the drama, the triumph, the tragedy and more importantly - The truth of the opening and colonization of the American West in this masterpiece of film work. I ordered "The West" as a follow up to watching Ken Burns' "The Civil War" (also an excellent production) to fill in some of the "gaps" and I was not disappointed, "The West" provides a massive amount of historical information in a well-planned, easy to follow and concise manner. The rich panoramic camera-work coupled with original photos, quotes, commentaries and period music delivers a sense of reality, one can almost imagine standing on the plains with the pioneers or cringing from a cavalry charge. The film is not patriotic, there is no attempt to conceal or sugarcoat unpleasant events perpetrated in the course of "manifest destiny", the film is raw and unapologetic, Ken Burns merely delivers the truth of what happened, he doesn't take sides. I highly recommend this series for anyone wishing to know about "The West" or how the United States came to be what it is today. Again, kudos to Mr. Burns, keep up the good work.
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