The Civil War on DVD

By Jim Bray

Okay, right off the bat let’s admit up front that this reviewer is Canadian (by birth, not choice: I’d become American at the drop of a hat) and so my judgment of the historical accuracy of this piece may not be what it could.

That said, Ken Burns’ acclaimed “film” (It’s actually a miniseries) is an excellent documentary that really seems to put the events and the people of this unhappy but defining time in American history into a nearly living and breathing context.

It almost makes you feel as if you were there - not in a "Band of Brothers" way of course but in a more intellectual manner more befitting of the overbearingly pompous and liberal Public Broadcasting System.

As for historical accuracy, I had thought that slavery, while a huge issue, was not the only one issue that was at the "root cause" of the Civil War (see above disclaimer about my perspective) - yet Burns’ series appears to blame slavery almost exclusively. Whether this is correct, or merely politically correct, shall be left to others. One thing that can’t be argued is the engrossing and heartwrenching drama that plays out over this PBS DVD Gold’s five discs.

The product on those discs, handsomely presented in a boxed set, is said to have been the most successful public-television miniseries in American history. It’s a fascinating bit of filmmaking, as co-writer/co-producer/director Burns uses actor/narrators reading letters and documents in a manner that brings them to life, stating the writer's name at the end as if it were a signature to put it into perspective (though I’d have preferred knowing up front who was “talking”). He also uses contemporary footage of places interposed with still photographs, paintings, maps, prints and the like, interviews, and music from the era to great effect.

Thanks to such techniques, Burns basically resurrects the events and makes the era much more interesting than you’d get from history books.

This ends up being a documentary that almost feels like a drama, imparting on the audience a genuine feel for the emotion and horror of the Civil War.

The DVD features a digital remastering of the original film, which gives it excellent image quality, and a remixed 5.1-channel audio soundtrack. Alas, the aspect ratio is 4x3 which means it isn’t 16x9 TV compatible, but there isn’t much you can do about this since it’s the original aspect ratio.

You also get plenty of extras, including a commentary by Ken Burns, "Behind the Scenes: The Civil War Reconstruction," interviews with Ken Burns, historian Shelby Foote, George Will, and Stanley Crouch, a set of on-screen biography cards, maps of battlefields, a Civil War Challenge trivia game, and a couple of featurettes on Ken Burns and his work.

If you’re interested in learning more about events that helped make the United States the nation that it is today, this is a heck of a place to start.

The Civil War, a film by Ken Burns, from Warner Home Video

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