Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Good, but with one major fault
This is as good a documentary as anyone has ever made. It is beautifully photographed and very dramatic. Its voiceover actors are almost perfect for their roles and its talking heads, particularly Shelby Foote, are interesting and informative, coming in at just the right time. Even though there isn't a battle recreation here, I got more of a feel of what the battles must have been like watching this than from any other Civil War documentary I've ever seen. The subjects covered here are rather cliched; one would like to heard much more about things like the inner wars in east Tennessee and Missouri or the New York draft riots. But this is still the best Civil War documentary available. Which isn't the compliment you'd think. Because if you want to understand why the war happened, you won't find that out here. Burns dedicates about half of one episode to the causes of the war, nowhere near enough time. It took Allan Nevins 2,000 pages to get from 1848 to 1861. Entire books have been written on the causes of the war, a topic Burns barely discusses. There is next-to nothing here about the split in the Democratic party in the 1840's, the political controversy over Oregon and Texas, the battles over internal improvements which alienated the West, or even the Kansas- Nebraska Act, which led to the formation of the Republican Party. Burns' Civil War just kind of begins. It would have been nice to know what brought it on. If you want to know about Civil War battles, this is a good place to do it. If you want to understand the war, keep looking.
Rating: - The definitive U.S. Civil War documentary
Ken Burns' eleven-hour epic brilliantly captures the tragedy of the American Civil War through folksy historians, celebrity voice-overs, searing photography, and the eloquent letters and diaries of everyday soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict.It has been said often enough that to truly understand the American spirit, one must study the U.S. Civil War. In a four-year microcosm, the war summed up all the best in the United States. Namely, the abolition of race-based chattel slavery, the vindication of democracy in a republican form of goverment in an era dominated by European monarchs, the incredible bravery of the Union and Confederate soldiers, and the sheer political and intellectual brilliance of men like Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Likewise, the war also displayed some of America's worst characteristics: the vicious 1863 Draft Riots in New York City, the draft exemptions for the rich--both North and South, the 1864 massacre of 300 black Union soldiers by the Confederate army (and Robert E. Lee's refusal to stop similar racist carnage in the future), and Sherman's brutal campaign against civilians in Georgia and South Carolina. In eleven, sprawling hours, Burns and writer Geoffrey C. Ward capture the essence of the war and of the American spirit, and how the war united the country, but yet still divides it. This is no small feat, and Burns' documentary is truly magnificent. That being said, Burns focuses just a little too much on slavery being the cause of the war (it wasn't). The real cause was federal power versus state power. Simply put, the South didn't think the North had any right to tell it what to do--and was convinced that the federal government was a stooge for Northern interests. If you don't believe me, look to the fact that the U.S. nearly had a civil war over tariffs in the 1830s. Ken Burns conveniently didn't put THAT in his documentary, but liberty and human freedom undoubtedly make a more compelling story than how much in tax you can charge to imported goods from France. However, in all fairness, slavery (as well as Lincoln's election in 1860) was the straw the broke the camel's back (so to speak) and it was the preeminent moral and political issue of the mid-19th Century in America. The DVD extras are somewhat insightful. Ken Burns himself comes across as a stale personality and isn't very interesting. George Will calls the war "the greatest war in history". Not true, I think the Persian Wars, Punic Wars, 30 Years War, Napoleonic Wars and World Wars I and II all outrank our civil war, but it's interesting fuel for debate. The best interview is Stanley Crouch of the "New York Daily News" who gives a very candid view on the war and why Robert E. Lee is "overrated".
Rating: - The Civil War-A Film By Ken Burns
I can't say enough good things about this film! What Burns has created is nothing less than a documentary masterpiece. I personally have seen this entire film at least five times and I learn and see new things with each viewing. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. The entire film is filled with vintage photographs, Civil War era music, superb narration and the insights of those who lived through the war themselves. I have noticed a few minor factual errors in the film (i.e., Lincoln was 56 when he died, not 54), but they are few and certainly do not take away from the impact of this magnificent work. This one is definitely worth the money. I can recommend it without reservation.
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