New York: A Documentary Film

The Ric Burns (Civil War, Jazz) documentary is thorough enough to teach even New Yorkers about native home. At 14 hours, perhaps that's not a hard thing to do, but it is worth every minute. At its heart, it's the story of NY from 1609 to 2000. But at its core, what you will take away from it is that New York's is the tale of America. "New York, more than any other city in the United States, tells the story of America to itself."-- and it does.

Most enlightening to potential viewers will be the last chapter "The city and the world" that brings us from the end of WWII into the present. The meat here is the whole "urban renewal" failure of the 80's and 90's, as well as the once and future problem of suburban expansion. And, as always, they show how New York was THE leader of the pack in all of these urban questions. In watching the documentary, you cannot help but realize that what happens in NY, inevitably happens in the rest of the USA. Ric Burns' documentary is so much more, part 3 is the true story of New York that Scorsese hopes to capture in "Gangs of New York" this December (not even he has a shot at this). This documentary is delightful in its simplicity and subtle in its sentimentality (no bashing over the head, "NY rules", and its all la-tee-da). Lovers and haters of NY are all interviewed and allowed to give their slant. Although the villification of Robert Moses and complete hatred of him is made manifest-- because it was true then and is true now. The films does not go into detail during wars, which I might have liked to see more of, but the fact is that NY (as you will see) has not played a large role in war, except as a stage for the rest of the US to play on (a-la VJ-day). Urbanists, the NY-curious, educators, the educated-- see this documentary.

The story of Walt Whitman, the story of Abe Lincoln, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Al Smith, la Guardia, FDR, George Washington, Stuyvesant, and more were MADE in New York City. New York has been referred to as a foreign city with over 50% of its people born outside of the country, but it turns out to be the most American of any city-- the real mixing pot, where everyone is forced to get along and to find a way to work together (the United Nations?). This film won 2001 Emmys for best editing and best non-fiction programming to give you an idea of its cinematic quality.

It is NOT about September 11th, but you connect 'what happens to NY, happens to the rest 10 years later' to that date, it begs the question. There are other documentaries about that NY event. NY was the first to experience a massive suicide bombing (episode 3) and it will likely be the first city again. Since the Civil War, you will see, it has been the First City of the world, the Capitol of the world. The best damn city, with one of the most remarkable histories of any place you could name-- laid out with great storytelling by Ric Burns' PBS documentary. 9.5/10

An extraordinary 8 part, almost 18 hour history of New York City; it's politics, economics, architecture, and above all humanity, from the first arrival of white settlers. (I would have been curious to know more about the Native Americans who had been living there, but the focus is on New York as a city, which arguably started with the arrival of the Dutch).

I was born and lived the first half of my life in the city, was always passionate about it, and yet the program had so much fascinating information I didn't know – not only about the distant past, but the complex back-room city politics (some disastrously wrong headed, even aggressively racist) that were going on in my early years.

It's always lively, often touching and asks important questions about what makes a city and why they're so important -- as well as "how can a city keep 'modernizing', but not lose it's soul?" It also forced me to abandon some supposed "facts" I'd been brought up with as a New Yorker, like the idea that names of immigrants were commonly changed at Ellis Island.

The last episode, made after the rest of the documentary, is devoted entirely to the Word Trade Center; it's inception, it's building (and the complex, sometimes dark politics behind it), it's successes and failures as architecture and urban planning, and of course it's horrifying demise. While it's the most emotional of the episodes, it does feel a bit apart from the others, spending it's entire length on one very focused subject. Not a problem, other than a bit of change in style.

If one had to nit-pick it would probably be the use of hyperbole in some of the narration. I lost count of how many crises were 'the worst the city ever faced'. But that is a tiny fly in a ton of ointment.

The images, still and moving, are beautifully chosen (great seeing moving images from the turn of the century New York), the various expert talking heads are passionate and articulate, and I learned so much more than I expected.

It's interesting that film-maker Ric Burns' brother Ken has received so much more attention. I find Ric's many documentaries often the equal of Ken Burns' work, and indeed sometimes find them more emotional.

This epic documentary from Ric Burns covers all of the major events and people that have shaped the culture and rich history of the City of New York. It does, in episodes 6 and 7 go past 1931 (Episode 6 is 1929-1941 and Episode 7 is 1945-Present). All of the historians, writers and others that provide commentary for the film are wonderful and insightful, although they sometimes become repetitive. This is rare, however, and the great stills (and later film) carries the story along from its humble Dutch beginnings in 1609 all the way to the present day. New York is like nowhere else in the world; it is an entity unto itself. But, as F. Scott Fitzgerald notes, it is just a city and not a universe. But what a city. David Ogden Stiers does an incredible job narrating what is, in my humble opinion, the singular film about the history of New York.

This is a history of New York, and by extension a history of the U.S.

It is a loving history of a great city, beautifully executed. Like a sibling or parent of a flawed man, the historians and other contributors see the flaws but love the subject despite them.

A serious history of New York, like of the U.S., reflects the contradictions that go back to the very early days of this city and this country: A melting pot where people of many classes, nationalities, languages and religions learned to live and get along in close proximity – and where many people hated everyone unlike them, or who resented or oppressed everyone whose group arrived in a wave after their own. Where a spirit of democracy, community, equality, public service and a hand up for everyone who needed it resided side-by-side with unbridled greed, indifference to the suffering of others not doing as well as oneself, stupendous corruption, exploitation of slaves and virtual (wage) slaves.

Some of the other reviews seem to miss the message by a mile – the historians and other contributors provide useful insights – and accurate ones. I don't know if every numeric and temporal statement is dead-on accurate, but the thrust and the many, many details and nuances discussed throughout the series are correct. From the first line uttered by the narrator in Episode 1: "On September 2, 1609, Henry Hudson…"

The superlatives, too, are on the mark. Like it or not, New York has not only been a city of all kinds of "firsts" and "biggests" and "bests" but also has a more dynamic and interesting history than most others -- which is why these superlatives are so frequently present. If some day Burns chooses to make a documentary about St. Petersburg or London or Beijing, I'm sure there will be a lot of talk about those cities to the exclusion of all others. In other words, this is a documentary about New York, not a city in Australia, Egypt, France or Russia - where the 19th Century rural peasants DID live much as they had in the Middle Ages.

How anyone watching this series and paying attention, could miss the many, many more things Burns covers besides race, class and greed – is surprising. That the series discusses these frequently is not surprising – since long before Hudson sailed up the river later named for him – all 3 have been factors in the history of New York from 1609 to today. To ignore this fact would have been to whitewash the truth. Watch "Rambo" or "X-Men" if you want fiction. Burns and his contributors report these truths – and extol the many virtues – or strengths of New Yorkers famous and anonymous by way of explaining the evolution and rise to the top of the city.

Too slow? Really? It covers 400 years , an hour and a half per century for heaven's sake. Personally, I couldn't get enough.

I happened along this documentary one Sunday afternoon after 9-11 in 2001. I originally was intrigued because I am a New Yorker but also because, sadly, I really didn't have as much knowledge about this great city that I live in as I should have and of course also because it was soon after that tragic day in September and I wanted to watch anything and everything relating to that day. To my surprise it didn't have anything with regard to 9-11, being completed before 2001. I continued to watch because I wanted to know more about the history of my city. Sure I knew about the Dutch, about the English taking over, the changing of the name but this film taught me a lot about people I didn't know much if anything about - Fiorello Laguardia, Al Smith, Walt Whitman - and whereas I knew about Lincoln and FDR to name two, my knowledge about their relation to New York was pitiful.

Anyone who has any desire to gain some knowledge about New York should watch this. I picked up the CD today because the songs on it are amazing - very deep and very emotional. Anyone who enjoys history will probably enjoy this film. I got it as a Christmas present in 2001 and it's been one of the best presents I've ever received.