A Monumental Documentary on the History of US National Parks
Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009) is designed to run on PBS television in six episodes of about two hours each. The documentary doesn't give viewers much of a feel for what it's like to visit a national park; instead, the focus is on the history of US national parks from their inception in the 19th century up through the 1970s. Burns integrates his coverage of the parks into the broad sweep of American history from the vanishing frontier to the advent of the automobile to the Great Depression to the post-World War II boom in tourism.
Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon are old and popular, so they are central to Burns' history. There are 55 other national parks, and several of these play significant roles in the documentary, including Mesa Verde (Colorado), Everglades (Florida), Great Smoky Mountains (North Carolina and Tennessee), Acadia (Maine) and Denali (Alaska). But Burns isn't trying to promote specific attractions; he wants to exalt nature in general and warn against commercial, logging, mining and ranching interests.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea won't please everyone. It's slow moving, and there's almost no humor. Although the photography is generally excellent, the folksy music gets tedious. The preachiness about the importance of nature is off-putting. Yet, the documentary raises important issues, such as preservation versus accessibility and spectacle versus wilderness experience. And Burns ultimately builds a powerful case that the parks have become an elemental component of America's national identity.
Over Three Hours of DVD Bonus Materials
There are 3 1/4 hours of bonus materials spread over the six discs in the DVD set containing The National Parks: America's Best Idea.
The feature documentary proves that director Ken Burns has an extraordinary ability to communicate sense of place. In that connection, it's interesting to watch the 23-minute featurette "Capturing the Parks," which shows him and writer/producer Dayton Duncan filming at various locations over the five-year shoot. Among these are Chaco Canyon (New Mexico), on a raft in Grand Canyon, and at Hawaii Volcanoes. That captivating shot of bears catching salmon turns out to be at Katmai (Alaska).
The hour-long extra titled "Contemporary Stories From America's National Parks" shows how the National Park Service is changing with the times. It consists of five segments, each roughly 12 minutes long. One is about the preservation of four Spanish missions in the San Antonio area. Another is about memorializing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II at Manzanar in the California high desert. A third showcases a charismatic park ranger named Shelton Johnson, who tells how African-American cavalrymen called buffalo soldiers patrolled Yosemite circa 1900.
There are other, less interesting extras. The making-of feels like a promo, and the "Musical Journeys" are simply montages set to music. Nevada Barr, a mystery novelist who used to be a park ranger, is interviewed, and "The Boss" profiles a revered Park Service supervisor named Frank Pinkley. Finally, "The National Parks: This Is America" largely duplicates footage in the feature documentary.
DVD Details
Below I have listed all the details for the DVD set containing The National Parks: America's Best Idea.
Release Date: October 6, 2009
Number of DVD Discs: 6
Feature Runtime: 11 hours 35 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1, Color
English 5.1 Surround
English 2.0 Stereo
Spanish 2.0 Stereo
Video Description
English Subtitles
Spanish Subtitles
The Making of The National Parks: America's Best Idea (25 min.)
Capturing the Parks (23 min.)
Musical Journeys Through the Parks (6 segments, total runtime = 26 min.)
An Interview With Nevada Barr (7 min.)
"The Boss" (10 min.)
The National Parks: This Is America (44 min.)
Contemporary Stories From America's National Parks (5 segments, total runtime = 1 hr. 1 min.)
