THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY
D: Ken Burns (2014) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
A seven-part, 14-hour documentary miniseries, originally broadcast on PBS, covering a century of American history through the lives of three extraordinary people: Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. First there was Teddy, the Rough Rider, trustbuster, imperialist and conservationist, a political cartoonist's dream and a figure much larger than life. Then Franklin, the jaunty, irrepressible father figure who battled back from polio to lead the country out of the Great Depression and through most of World War Two. And Eleanor, the revolutionary first lady who carved out her own niche as a tireless crusader for social justice, FDR's conscience, confidante and ambassador-at-large to a world his office and paralyzed legs would not allow him to go. It's a worn-out cliché, I know, but in this case to say we'll never see their like again isn't just a guess, it's a certainty. And the film leaves you with a real sense that for these three lives, even under the guiding eye of Ken Burns, 14 hours isn't nearly enough. Paul Giamatti, Edward Herrmann and Meryl Streep do the principal voices. Peter Coyote narrates.
Edward Herrmann
(1943-2014)
