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Ken Burns, maker of 'The War,' coming to the Twin Cities
By M.K. Guetersloh
mkguetersloh@pantagraph.com
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NORMAL — It has become a happy coincidence that documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will make a Twin City appearance so soon after the release of his latest documentary, “The War.”

The seven-part television program on World War II is running nationally on PBS.

Burns is scheduled to speak Thursday as part of the Stevenson Lecture Series for Illinois State University’s sesquicentennial celebration. Burns also will speak at Illinois Wesleyan University the same day.

His presentations at the two universities will include much about “The War,” Burns said.

“When I set out to make this film 6½ years ago, human beings had forgotten what war is about,” Burns said. “World War II came at a huge price to the world. There were 60 million human beings who died in that war, and that comes to us as a good war. But there is no such thing as a good war.”

Burns describes himself as an “emotional archaeologist” who is waking the dead.

“Our intention is to be good artists, and we cannot help but be drawn in to these powerful emotions as we tell these stories,” Burns said. “We wish to honor our subject, and we want to be honorable with telling their stories.”

Although Burns is quick to admit he is a filmmaker, not a historian, years of research go into his documentaries. Also, historians review and scrutinize his films before they are finished.

His methods have won him fans in the history discipline.

“He has done a tremendous service to the field of history,” said Greg Koos, executive director of the McLean County Museum of History. “He has been able to connect us with the people involved in an event or period in time and has reawakened people’s interest in the past.”

Burns doesn’t want to be someone who presents history in a dispassionate or detached way because it lacks the emotion and context of how people felt during the event.

In “The War,” Burns was able to add interviews with people who experienced the war. Those were among several tools Burns used in an effort to bring the emotion of World War II to life.

“Most people think of history as castor oil; it may be good for them, but it tastes awful,” Burns said. “They run from it. But I want them to understand that it is a good story.

“(President Harry) Truman used to say that there is nothing more interesting than the history you don’t know.”

Burns grabbed national attention in 1990 with his documentary “The Civil War.” His credits also include the documentaries “Baseball,” “The West” and “Jazz.”

His signature method of panning the camera over a photograph has become known as the “Ken Burns effect,” a title Burns tries to brush past quickly.

“It’s an acknowledgement that I’ve had an effect on filmmaking, but that and 50 cents will get me a cup of coffee,” he said. “I just keep working, trying to be a better filmmaker.”



0Burns in B-N

Stevenson Lecture Series

Who: Ken Burns, documentary filmmaker whose credits include “The War,” “Baseball,” and “The Civil War” for PBS.

Day: Thursday

Time and location: 2 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Hansen Student Center, 300 Beecher St., Bloomington; and 7 p.m. at Illinois State University’s Braden Auditorium, Bone Student Center, Normal.

War stories

What: Central Illinois World War II stories and viewing of a portion of the Ken Burns documentary “The War.”

When: 11:45 to 1 p.m. Nov. 11

Where: McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington.

Also: The event includes the annual Veterans Day ceremony at 10:45 a.m. led by American Legion-Louis E. Davis Post 56 at the war memorial at the museum.

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Reader comments on this story - 4 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

William to to william wrote on Oct 28, 2007 9:20 PM:

" thanks, but its more a fact of life than prophecy. "

personally wrote on Oct 28, 2007 5:42 PM:

" This latest series didn't impress me as much as The Civil War and Baseball. Too "touchy-feely" (well produced, though). KB seemed to focus on the home front as much as the war front. Maybe he thought other series have already covered that territory. "

To: William wrote on Oct 28, 2007 1:12 PM:

" Gee, How prophetic. "

william wrote on Oct 28, 2007 10:37 AM:

" If you win, its a good war, if you lose, its bad. "
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