Documentaries

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, July 2009; written by Lisa Pearson.

There’s something so satisfying about a good documentary film. It doesn’t have to be a bleak expose of genocide, or a mind-numbing look at the benefits of crop rotation. In fact, a nonfiction film can be just as entertaining as a Hollywood movie, with the added benefit that you don’t usually have to screen it for graphic sexual content and four-letter words. Some of our most recent DVDs would be excellent candidates for watching with your teenagers (younger children will probably find their attention wandering).

“We Shall Remain: America through Native eyes” is a 5-part series that was broadcast on PBS earlier this year. Using historic photographs, dramatic reenactments and interviews with historians and tribal elders, this series examines the relationship between the Native Americans and the Europeans who settled in North America. By focusing on 5 key periods – the first conflicts between colonists and Natives in New England, the rise of the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, the forced march of the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears, the end of the Indian Wars with the defeat of Geronimo, and the 1973 siege of Wounded Knee – the filmmakers manage to convey the full range of miscommunication, mistrust and betrayal that led to centuries of violence and destruction. Viewers can connect with the personalities involved, both European and Native, and can get a real sense of how these events affected individual men and women, as well as the course of our nation’s history. Directors Chris Eyre, Ric Burns, Dustinn Craig, Sarah Colt and Stanley Nelson have created a beautifully filmed recreation of our past, as interesting and dramatic as any movie. This series was very well received when it aired, and if you missed it in April you now have a chance to watch it at your leisure.

Writer and epic traveler Michael Wood has created another wonderful documentary series that is filled with fairy-tale stories and stunning visuals. “In Search of Myths & Heroes” takes viewers on a tour of Europe, Africa and Asia as Wood tracks down the reality behind some of civilization’s most legendary myths. Travel to Ethiopia and Yemen in search of the Queen of Sheba. Hike the mountains of Nepal and India on a hunt for Shangri-La. Sail through the islands of Greece and Turkey following in the path of Jason and the Argonauts. Wander the green hills of England and Ireland looking for the true home of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Part travelogue, part sociology, this DVD is beautifully filmed and Wood’s narration will hold your attention as he retells some of our most interesting legends.

This year marks the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth (as well as Charles Darwin, Louis Braille and Edgar Allen Poe – 1809 was one heck of a year) and in the 144 years since his death, Lincoln has become a figure of legend as well as fact. “Looking for Lincoln” examines Lincoln’s modern aura and picks apart many of the stories that have grown up around his life. This is not a typical biography, a mere recitation of names, dates and places. Instead, this film looks at Lincoln as a cultural phenomenon and uses the writings of his contemporaries and the analysis of scholars, historians and even Lincoln impersonators to show the effect that he has had on Americans. Politics, history and even popular culture have all felt his influence, until eventually you begin to wonder where the real man ends and the legend begins. Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr., this documentary should appeal to anyone with an interest in American history.