Actor(s): Adam Arkin, Philip Bosco, Kevin Conway, Peter Coyote, Andy Garcia
Director(s): Ken Burns
Publisher: PBS (DIRECT)
Binding: DVD
Language(s): English, Spanish
EAN: 0841887009881
Studio: PBS (DIRECT)
Movie Description
THE NATIONAL PARKS is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved for everyone. The series traces the birth of the national park idea in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years, chronicling the addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create them.
This film is presented in "widescreen" format. Enchanced for 16x9 televisions.
Audio: English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Stereo, Spanish 2.0 Stereo, Described Video for the Visualy Impaired
I truly believe there are special moments in this documentary and all you need to do is read the positive reviews for that. But there is a reason for some of these heated negative reviews and I'm completely disappointed that Ken Burns took what could have been an uplifting story of the creation of some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world into National Parks and exploited the topic to get his political opinion across. I blame Dayton Duncan for a lot of that as his interviews can get nauseating, the evil white devil is really his true opinion of most white Americans and that we need to be saved from ourselves. The most unbelievably frustrating thing which I'm sure is all Duncan again is his absolute distortion of history when it comes to Native Americans. There is no doubt that the trail of tears and other shameful things will forever be a horrible mark on our history. But what he and Burns fail to bring up is the thousands of settlers, innocent families that were brutalized as they made their way west by many American Indian tribes especially the Sioux. The Sioux slowly made their way from Minnesota in the beginning of the 1800's to the Black Hills murdering, raping and pillaging any other tribe that got in there way. These were other tribes tryng to live peacefully. The Black Hills never belonged to the Sioux, they belonged to the Kiowa, Crow and Shoshone who they once again enslaved their wives, killed their warriors and had the shoshone hiding in the rocky mountains starving, taking the Black Hills by force. When are we going to start discussing these facts? The Yankton Sioux uprising in the 1860's was a bloodbath, they did things to the pioneer families that can't even be mentioned here. Over 1000 people were butchered by the Yankton and I've never heard it discussed in any history books. There is of course an American Indian park ranger on the DVD legitimizing the nonsense that Burns and Duncan spew out. They complain that the Blackfeet had their reservations moved out of the mountains- do you know how many innocent people the Blackfeet killed through out the eighteenth century? If you made a wrong turn into their land, families or not, you were as good as dead. When they discuss the Nez Perce uprising in Yellow Stone they fail to leave out the fact that the Nez Perce killed 18 innocent civilians that had nothing to do with the conflict before entering and killing more when they got into Yellowstone. But of course Burns and Duncan blame it solely on the government policies again- as if that's an excuse for murder.
I am extremely ambivalent about this whole retelling of history. I do strongly believe that great in justices were done to many poor tribes, especially to the Nez Perce who saved Lewis and Clark from certain death. There were extreme acts of generosity on BOTH sides. The Native American tribes have to be looked at in some ways as independent countries. Many tribes were peaceful and the US Army wasn't this monstrous killing machine that modern movies like "Dances with Wolves" would lead you to believe. There were many in the US Army that were extremely sympathetic to many tribes and constantly fought settlers to get them off Indian lands. Once again left out of the Burns and Duncan version. I'm sure I will be labeled a bigot for expressing my views but what I'm saying is the truth and if you want to know the real story of the American west read "The Wild Frontier" or Stephen Ambrose' "Custer and Crazy Horse". A Great Chief once said he never blamed the white man for what happened, that what happened was inevitable, but he said there were both bad men and good men on both sides and it was the bad men unfortunately that brought about all the trouble.I have one question for the people that seem to be too politically correct to discuss both sides and to explain the truth of what really happened during this period of our history. Do you think if we swapped positions with the Sioux, Cheyenne and other warlike tribes. Them being the more powerful force and eventually defeating us. Do you think they would have offered to buy our land or would they have designated land that was won by conquest and turned that land into reservations for us to live in?
"Uplift!"
Written By: gal
No home in the USA should be without this compelling series! The human stories are as inspiring as the Parks themselves.
"A must see"
Written By: Michael Massurin
If you enjoy the grand beauty of nature this DVD set is a must. Ken Burns has once again shown us a glimpse of our nation that is unique, full of wonder and beautiful. Every time I watch this series I get something new out of it.
"National Parks certainly aren't America's "best idea.""
Written By: Michael Gordon
Contrary to the views of the makers of this documentary, I do not believe that national parks are "America's best idea." Instead, I believe that liberty, the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and capitalism, are America's "best idea." Nevertheless, I did enjoy watching most of this documentary, even though I disagreed with a lot of it. The makers of this documentary have a very statist orientation. They believe that humans are destroyers of the planet and that it is the government to protect particular locations such as national parks. I happen to believe that this is not the case. Even if the government did not protect places such as the Grand Canyon, private organizations, particularly conservation groups, could have raised the money to set the land aside and run it on a private basis. The government has done a terrible job in managing our national parks. Even the documentary has stated this. The documentary shows plenty of photos that suggest that the national parks are overwhelmed. Of course they are: the government is providing access at a cost that is far below what the private market would charge. And since the government will always be incompetent in managing things, it is definitely understandable how a lot of the parks are in badly need of repair.
I did not like the grainy video that was used in the series, either. For such an expensive project, one would have hoped that they could have shot this in 35mm instead of 16. Well, but that also makes sense: it was made by PBS (the government?) Need we say more?
"Ken Burns: National Parks - America's Best Idea"
Written By: K. Tekautz
This series is very informative and detailed. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Watching this makes me appreciate all the beauty we have in our own backyard. Yes, there are beautiful places throughout the world, but the United States has many outstanding places as well. Thank God there were people who recognized this and wanted to preserve it for future generations to appreciate and enjoy. This is a very balanced account of the struggle to recognize the gems we have in this country and the fight to preserve and protect them.
"An extremely left-sided view of history"
"Uplift!"
