The National Parks: America's Best Idea Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
The National Parks (six episodes, twelve hours) tells the human history of five of the nation’s
most important and most heavily visited National Parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon,
Acadia, and Great Smoky Mountains) and the unforgettable Americans who made them
possible. Set against some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, each park’s story is filled
with incidents and characters as gripping and fascinating as U.S. history has to offer.
One of the best bits of national achievement which our people have to their credit.
Ken Burns, the world's preeminent documentarian, once again turns to America's storied past to
dazzle
audiences with his latest labor of love, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. For
those with a thirst for knowledge and a taste for wonderfully-realized films that serve as teaching
tool, entertainment, and work of art all rolled into one, Burns' films are best experienced rather
than merely watched, best immersed rather than merely understood. Whether the statistician;
history buff; or connoisseur of involving, intellectually stimulating, and expertly-produced films,
the multi award-winning filmmaker continues his streak with The National Parks: America's
Best Idea, this time taking something of a more abstract and arguably more dry subject
matter and working his magic on it, delivering a captivating, meaningful, and intelligent
examination of one of America's most storied and important -- but often overlooked and
sometimes
taken for granted -- treasures.
Seemingly a far cry from the rich history of America's Pastime, the deep examination of a
uniquely
American musical style, the personal and moving history of the nation's bloodiest war, or the
scope of the conflict which forever altered the political and cultural landscape of the second half of
the 20th century and beyond, the story of America's National parks is nevertheless no less
personal, dangerous, exciting, rich, and culturally and politically significant, and its story is now
accessible in
another winning film from arguably the greatest Documentary filmmaker of all time.
The Roosevelt Arch.
When reviewing a film like The National Parks: America's Best Idea, it seems best not to
provide a play-by-play of what to expect from every episode, but rather to explain the richness of
the experience when taken in as a whole, understood as a single, cohesive entity rather than a
choppy collection of segments. What sets The National
Parks: America's Best Idea -- and Burns' other documentaries -- apart from likeminded films
is
an organic structure that demands perhaps not a straight-through 12-hour watch but certainly
an
appreciation for and understanding of the way the story builds upon itself block-by-block as what
begins as Lafayette Bunnell's first breathtaking vision of what would become Yosemite National
Park
to Adolph Murie's fight to preserve the natural habitat of the wildlife that then and now call the
parks home. The National Parks: America's Best Idea is more than a collection of mere
bullet points, more than bits and pieces of historical nuggets cobbled together in a cohesive
manner. Instead, the story of the Parks as presented here is America, and this film is a grand
chronicling of her history, her ups, her downs, her wrongs, her rights, her people, her grandeur.
Indeed, The National Parks: America's Best Idea deserves better than a dry run-through
of the richness it has to offer. It requires one's appreciation of the nuanced structure and of
history's organic flow and the way it gradually shapes the structure of the present, much the
same way a riverbed rock is over the years smoothed by the rushing waters that flow over its
surface. The gaps between The National Parks: America's Best Idea's six individual
chapters -- The
Scripture of Nature, The Last Refuge, The Empire of Grandeur, Going
Home, Great Nature, and The Morning of Creation -- seem more a breather,
a chance for reflection, or a pause, rather than an end, as viewers revel in the majesty of
America as seen through the eye of her master documentarian.
Indeed, The National Parks: America's Best Idea is best taken in through the proper lens
and in the right frame of mind; there's not doubt that the length seems daunting and the subject
material -- on a purely superficial level -- seems a bit dull, particularly compared to some of Burns'
other endeavors. Taken fragmentarily, The National Parks: America's Best Idea can
seem not all that different from any other garden-variety Documentary. At a glance, the film can
take on the appearance of the more touristy sort of generic clips that travelers often find at any
number of significant stops around the country, whether a railroad museum, Old West
recreations, or even tea or beer breweries. However, soaking the material in, appreciating it
beyond face value, and basking in the style in which it is presented, it becomes easy to see why
Burns' documentaries are revered as the best in the business and why The National Parks:
America's Best Idea is itself a master Documentary. As expected, Burns keeps things fresh
and engaging throughout, and it's the exception to the rule when the material becomes a bit
monotonous. There are certainly a few places where the film can drag, but generally speaking,
it's
a relatively quick-in-perspective watch as history unfolds under the watchful eye of the camera
that captures the expected array of archival video footage and photographs, filmed natural
wonders, and interview clips with historians, park rangers, history makers, and any other number
of contributing individuals; through its often stirring score; and via Peter Coyote's excellent and
evenly-keeled narration.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea is vintage Ken Burns. Not only does the film
leave no stone unturned in its quest to compile the rich history of its subject, but it does so not
dryly but rather in a manner that engages the viewer, captivating the senses and challenging the
mind as it presents material not with a heavy hand or a particular bias but instead with a
gentleness that
accentuates the scope of the material, the historical significance of the subject, and the
audience's appreciation for not only the story it tells but also the people, places, and things that
are painted here not as detached subjects reduced to a blurb and a photo but instead as living,
breathing, and wholly integral pieces that shaped America's destiny and preserved her natural
beauty. Much like Burns' Baseball, he here examines the subject material not in a
vacuum
but through the dynamics of history. Baseball -- America's Pastime -- is not a game but an
institution, not a
sport but a way of life that's wholly American, and its long and storied past moves with the ebb
and flow of American history, the two seemingly interconnected, and Burns paints his story of
America's National Parks in much the same way. The film features not only a conventional
history of the Parks but looks deeper for the significance -- culturally and politically, for instance --
of the Parks in the conservation of a small slice of the world as it was for not only the enjoyment
of those that
are and will be, but as an immutable testament to the beauty of natural wonders that, no matter
how tall
man may build a skyscraper or how majestically he may sculpt a statue, cannot be bettered.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea dissects the Park's place in America through the
lens of America herself, and much like baseball -- a sport of which Terrence Mann once said,
"The
one constant through all the years...has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of
steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has
marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once
was good, and that could be again" -- the stalwart "Old Faithful" at Yellowstone, the wonder of
the Petrified Forest, and the majesty of all America's National Parks, represent a constant
reminder of
all that is good, wholesome, and pure in the world.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080i, 1.78:1-framed
transfer. Unfortunately, the imagery doesn't hold a candle to the beauty of Planet Earth, but it
does hold up nicely through the majority of the film. Much of the natural footage is abuzz with
grain, resulting in backgrounds -- particularly bright blue skies -- that are anything but static.
However, considering the film's original 16mm elements, this aspect of the transfer appears
in-line with what viewers should expect from the source. Said footage does tend to look a bit flat
and uninspired,
and the color palette seems slightly dim, though such observations don't tend to distract from the
overall feel all that much. Fortunately, fine detail is generally excellent; rock faces in particular
feature astonishing textures. The interview segments fare the best; generally comprised of
static shots of various individuals speaking to the camera, colors appear bold, details in faces and
clothing pleasant, and various anomalies absent. Likewise, the many still photographs are nicely
rendered, though they're limited to the original source, much like some of the archival film and
television
footage scattered about the series, particularly in later episodes. The end result, despite some
better-than-average imagery, is a transfer that often looks more like a midrange high
definition over-the-air broadcast. All in all, there's no doubt that
some viewers expecting the next Planet Earth -- strictly in terms of the visual
presentation -- will walk away from The National Parks: America's Best Idea Blu-ray
disappointed, but the visuals as represented here capture the film about as best as once could
expect of the entirety of the source material.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea features a clear and surprisingly engaging Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. For the most part, the film delivers front-heavy and
center-focused
sounds, with dialogue the primary sonic feature. The Spoken word is superbly reproduced;
Coyote's
voice is strong and crisp, reassuring and soothing, and the lossless soundtrack allows it to sound
like
a natural and integral piece of the film rather than a detached voiceover. Likewise, various other
narrators and speakers in interview clips enjoy strong dialogue delivery. The score is nicely
rendered, too; though parts of it sound eerily reminiscent to something out of Joss Whedon's "Firefly," every note is
presented with a first-rate clarity that allows the music to effortlessly flow from the front half of
the soundstage. This one does have a
few surprises up its sleeve. Atmospherics are surprisingly engaging; a gentle breeze seems to
blow
around the soundstage in places, and birds may be heard chirping from any corner of the
listening
area. Both -- and many other -- effects do a marvelous job of creating a seamless atmosphere
that's wonderfully supportive of the film's grandiose visuals. Though certainly not the most
integral
aspect of this or most any other Documentary, the lossless soundtrack accompanying The
National Parks: America's Best Idea is, surprisingly, one of its best features.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea features supplements spread across each of the
six discs in this set. Below is a disc-by-disc breakdown of what's included.
Disc One
Disc one features but a lone extra, The Making of 'The National Parks: America's Best
Idea' (1080i, 25:24, also available in Spanish and with Spanish subtitles). It contains
Documentarians Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, and others -- scattered about excerpts from the
series -- sharing their thoughts on the film, the subject material and why they chose to tell the
story of America's National Parks, and more. Only a few true behind-the-scenes video segments
are included, and they chronicle the filmmaking process from Alaska to Hawaii and everywhere in
between.
Disc Two
Like disc one, disc two features but a single extra. Capturing the Parks (1080i, 23:34)
follows Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, and crew recalling the process of capturing the footage. The
piece examines the importance of cinematography to this particular feature, introduces many of
the people that worked behind the camera, discusses the process of shooting in general and the
force
of nature in the shooting process in particular, and the traveling to some of the most
awe-inspiring locations around the country.
Disc Three
Disc three contains Musical Journeys Through the National Parks, a piece divided into six
segments that feature various imagery set to music: National Parks Timeline (1080i,
8:51), Peace at Last/Across the Ocean (1080i, 5:31), Horizons (1080i, 2:09),
Green Groves of Erin (1080i, 3:14), The Shores of Ogygia (1080i, 2:33), and
Teddy Bears' Picnic (1080i, 3:14).
Disc Four
Included on disc four are two outtakes: An Interview With Nevada Barr (1080i, 7:17)
and 'The Boss' (1080i, 10:24), the story of Casa Grande conservationist Frank Pinkly.
Disc Five
Available with optional Spanish audio and subtitles, disc five features The National Parks: This
is America (1080i, 44:20). More an extension to the film proper rather than a separate
endeavor, this piece features continued interview clips, footage, and narration recalling
tales of and the history behind America's National Parks. It's almost like a very condensed
version of the entire film, and might serve nicely as a period-long piece for classrooms engaged in
the study of the National Parks.
Disc Six
Finally, disc six features perhaps the best collection of extras found throughout the entire series.
Again delivered with optional Spanish audio and subtitles, Contemporary Stories from
America's National Parks offers a collection of five pieces that offer further tales of America's
Best Idea. Included are San Antonio Missions: Keeping History Alive (1080i, 12:09),
Yosemite's Buffalo Soldiers (1080i, 11:30), Mount Rushmore: Telling America's
Stories (1080i, 9:35), Manzanar: 'Never Again' (1080i, 14:16), and City Kids in
National Parks (1080i, 13:45).
The first Ken Burns documentary to appear on Blu-ray, The National Parks: America's Best
Idea may not top the filmmaker's earlier and best efforts -- Baseball, The Civil
War, or Jazz -- but as either an introduction to his quality style of work, the
thoroughness of his endeavors, or his uncanny ability to fully articulate on the subject without the
tedium generally associated with history at such an in-depth level, they don't come much better
than this. Smartly crafted, easily digested, and taking its audience through a thorough and
thoroughly rewarding journey not just through America's National Parks but, by extension, America
herself, The National Parks: America's Best Idea is not only vintage Ken Burns but worthy
and must-see filmmaking. This joint PBS/Paramount Blu-ray release lacks the pristine high
definition imagery one might expect of a nature-based documentary (particularly considering the
breathtaking visuals of Planet Earth), but it
does feature a quality lossless soundtrack and a fine array of bonus features. The National
Parks: America's Best Idea comes highly recommended.
This Sunday, Amazon has an interesting Blu-ray related deal of the day: up to midnight PST, you can order Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea for only $48.99 (62% off MSRP). The price history shows that this is the cheapest this six-disc documentary ...
Best Buy has an interesting BD-related deal of the day going on now. Today only, you can buy Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea for only $39.99 (69% off MSRP). This six-disc documentary box set is currently $72.99 at Amazon, and its price history ...
Best Buy has an interesting BD-related deal of the day going on now. Today only, you can buy Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea for only $40 (69% off MSRP). This six-disc documentary box set is currently $73.49 at Amazon, and its price history there ...
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