Exceptional Artistry, Uneven History
William N. Tilchin reviews Ken Burns’s documentary film The Roosevelts: An Intimate History about Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Tilchin examines all seven episodes of the documentary, and he largely praises the latter episodes devoted to the Hyde Park Roosevelts while expressing serious reservations about the first two episodes centered on Theodore Roosevelt. Tilchin criticizes the treatment of Roosevelt’s service prior to and during the Spanish-American War by Burns and by three “talking head” commentators, and he admonishes the film for its coverage of Roosevelt’s presidential diplomacy. Tilchin also faults Burns for failing to recognize the evil nature of Joseph Stalin’s reign over the Soviet Union. Overall, Tilchin finds much to like in the film, but he believes that it will never be seen as “a masterpiece.”
The review is supplemented with twenty-six images over ten pages from the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University and by three illustrations of the DVD set from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
