Ken Burns' "The National Parks"- All This Week

The National Parks: America's Best Idea was six years in the making, and camps out every night this week on PBS, beginning Sunday. In total, the finished project is 12 hours long and The Washington Post says that it "is beautiful and erudite and contains all the underlined importance and swelling emotion that a major Ken Burns moment requires of its viewers", although staff writer Hank Stuever is of the opinion that director Burns may be overly in love with the project, reiterating the same points over and over again.

It's true, the parks do belong to all Americans. They are transcendent. Visiting them is almost a responsibilty for Americans, such is the permanence and awe they leave on the psyche of those who do. The project suffers from over-description, historians, writers, rangers and environmentalists trying too hard to designate tags to beauty that is beyond words.

Burns acknowledges this (in what seems like hour 97 of the project according to Steuver) when he quotes Irvin S. Cobb speaking of the Grand Canyon: "Nearly everybody, on taking a first look at the Grand Canyon, comes right out and admits its wonders are absolutely indescribable, and then proceeds to write anywhere from 2,000 to 50,000 words giving the full details ... When the Creator made it, He failed to make a word to cover it."

The work has been aided by Burns trademark meticulous research, but blighted by his equally signatory pomposity, according to Steuver. Still, the views will be beautiful, and there is a message in the undercurrent of core environmentalism and its beliefs. "The National Parks" is really about how people learn (or fail) to learn proper stewardship of nature. It may have its flaws, but the views alone have got to be worth a couple of hours of viewing this week.