I'm a huge American history buff and the westward movement is one of my favorite subjects, so when I came across this film at my local library, I checked the DVD out and watched it at home and I found it to be too generic and preachy in parts.
I lost interest in it after the railroad episode. The events that are talked about in this documentary: Lewis and Clark, Texas, The Mormons, The Oregon Trail, and so on are events that I've heard about and seen countless times before in my middle and high school US history classes, on TV and through reading books on the Westward Movement.
There are so many other fascinating events in the history of the West that decisive to be talked about in this documentary, but they're just overlooked. Also, people like Doc Holiday, Jessie James, Billy The Kid, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and Geronimo weren't ever talked about.
This documentary's message while moving, seemed a little too preachy to me. Look, I understand that the Native Americans went through terrible hardships during the westward movement, but don't people in Africa suffer hardships at the hands of their leaders as well?
Of course, there are positives to this documentary. The voice actors are great particularly Peter Coyote. The camera work is also very impressive, especially during the opening credits to each episode. The biggest thing that I like about this show is how as always with his films, Ken Burns focuses not just the famous people, but also on the ordinary people who lived through it.
If you like US history and want to learn about the American West, then this show is a good place to start. Otherwise, if you're not a fan of learning about American history that you already learned in your high school history class, then give this one a pass.
I lost interest in it after the railroad episode. The events that are talked about in this documentary: Lewis and Clark, Texas, The Mormons, The Oregon Trail, and so on are events that I've heard about and seen countless times before in my middle and high school US history classes, on TV and through reading books on the Westward Movement.
There are so many other fascinating events in the history of the West that decisive to be talked about in this documentary, but they're just overlooked. Also, people like Doc Holiday, Jessie James, Billy The Kid, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and Geronimo weren't ever talked about.
This documentary's message while moving, seemed a little too preachy to me. Look, I understand that the Native Americans went through terrible hardships during the westward movement, but don't people in Africa suffer hardships at the hands of their leaders as well?
Of course, there are positives to this documentary. The voice actors are great particularly Peter Coyote. The camera work is also very impressive, especially during the opening credits to each episode. The biggest thing that I like about this show is how as always with his films, Ken Burns focuses not just the famous people, but also on the ordinary people who lived through it.
If you like US history and want to learn about the American West, then this show is a good place to start. Otherwise, if you're not a fan of learning about American history that you already learned in your high school history class, then give this one a pass.