"Thomas Jefferson" (1997) TV mini-series

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Ken Burns

Writer:

Geoffrey C. Ward (writer)

Genre:

History

Plot:

A biographical film about The United States' influential and profoundly enigmatic Founding Father.

Plot Keywords:

TV Mini-Series | American Revolution | Independence Movement | Slavery | Character Name In Title

Cast

Blythe Danner	...	Martha Jefferson (voice)
Ossie Davis	...	Narrator (voice)
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Jefferson's grandaughter (voice)
Michael Potts	...	Isaac
Sam Waterston	...	Thomas Jefferson (voice)

Directed by
Ken Burns

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Geoffrey C. Ward		writer

Produced by
Ken Burns	....	producer
Camilla Rockwell	....	producer
Susanna Steisel	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Ken Burns
Peter B. Hutton
Allen Moore
Buddy Squires

Film Editing by
Paul Barnes
Kevin Kertscher

Sound Department
Marlena Grzaslewicz	....	dialogue editor
Ira Spiegel	....	supervising sound editor
Dominick Tavella	....	sound re-recording mixer

Editorial Department
Matt Newton	....	post-production intern
Shannon Robards	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Jennifer L. Dunnington	....	music editor

Production Companies

• American Lives Film Project
• Florentine Films
• WETA

Distributors

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Runtime:

USA:180 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

American Lives Film Project

The verdict of history

Ken Burns and company do an excellent job of giving us the whole Jefferson, warts and all. But one begins to wonder why they didn't do a documentary about someone else of the times, someone who didn't own slaves, didn't deport all Eastern Indians to the West, didn't build a museum for his personal abode, didn't praise the French Revolution in the most immoderate terms and didn't sink deep into debt. Whether he impregnated slave Sally is almost tangential and immaterial. He "did" so many other things! It is often said, one shouldn't judge a historical figure by today's exacting standards. Yet it is also said, by those same people, that time must pass to allow us to objectively evaluate today's leaders. And as if this weren't enough, one also hears these souls denounce "moral relativism". Go figure. But one needn't judge Jefferson by today's "politically correct" standards. One can be content with judging him by his own time's and, indeed, by his very own standards. And, one can emulate his own extremely harsh judgments of fellow founding father Alexander Hamilton. It's disrespectful to the founding fathers not to judge them. They judged each other, and they wanted to be judged. This good documentary is marred by interruptions from overexposed, self-important pundits from all corners of the vaunted political spectrum, a common documentary flaw. Interpretation and opinion should be served on a separate plate - please! A little more verve and humor would have added spice and made for a less reverential opus. Jefferson wrote so many letters. There should have been more quotations from the horse's mouth.