320: Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns

[00:00:00] . . . Daily 30 documentary film. Let's get to Ken Burns' baseball from 1994 and now

[00:00:08] this is a mini-series, even though I think he considers and titles his mini-series as

[00:00:15] films like it will be baseball a film by Ken Burns, even though this series is 18 and

[00:00:20] a half hours so not necessarily your conventional film but the synopsis is a documentary on

[00:00:28] the history of the sport with major topics including Afro American players, player, team

[00:00:34] owner relations and the resilience of the game. So for anyone who might be unfamiliar

[00:00:40] with Ken Burns, the documentary filmmaker I highly encourage you to check out his incredible

[00:00:48] body of work. He, to me is basically like the Steven Spielberg of documentaries like

[00:00:56] he has done so much for the genre and he has documented things so well and so extensively

[00:01:02] and with such thought like he's done so much of American history from the Civil War to

[00:01:09] baseball, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Roosevelt's, the Dust Bowl prohibition

[00:01:15] like you name it, he has covered it in one way or the other and you basically could learn

[00:01:21] American history just from watching his movies like I feel as though I've seen basically

[00:01:26] all of them at this point. I've learned more from his movies and about America as a country

[00:01:32] than I probably did in college like when I took a lot of history classes because I love

[00:01:36] history and despite all of that I feel like I've learned more and was affected more by

[00:01:42] his movies and shows than in school so I think that speaks a lot to his work and to his

[00:01:50] style and he really not to make it sound boring because it isn't. He's sort of able to

[00:01:55] take a museum and put it on screen but in an interesting way like his films and his style

[00:02:01] is very meditative in a sense like you can just kind of throw it on and whether it's really

[00:02:06] funny, moments, really sad moments, really thoughtful or scary moments whatever it is he's talking

[00:02:12] about there's a sense of like you just let wash over you and you can take as much or

[00:02:18] there's little as you want from it because I think you get out what you put into it but

[00:02:25] nevertheless his documentaries are incredible. There's such richness and care that you

[00:02:33] really never see in film very often so he is very much one of a kind and talking about

[00:02:42] this one more specifically I grew up loving baseball I still have a nostalgic love for baseball

[00:02:47] when I still really enjoy it I don't really play it anymore but I grew up loving baseball

[00:02:51] it was really my go-to escape and my go-to sport and it did so much for me when I was growing

[00:02:58] up and I saw this probably for the first time in high school I think when I was just getting

[00:03:05] into Ken Burns's films and it's amazing I fully agree though with a lot of people it is

[00:03:12] 18 and a half hours like I said so if you don't have that much interest in baseball probably

[00:03:18] are not going to stick it out no matter how great it is 18 hours for anything is a lot to watch

[00:03:23] and even though I was really enjoying it for the most part there are points where like the

[00:03:29] pacing falters a little bit or it gets too wrapped up in one thing and just lingers on

[00:03:35] that a little too long but it isn't nevertheless so well researched and well put together that it's

[00:03:42] hard to really hate on it it's just more so a matter of personal interest in the sport so I fully

[00:03:48] understand if maybe even just watching one of the quote unquote innings or episodes that there

[00:03:54] are that might be enough for you you know because watching all of them together that was a lot

[00:04:00] you learn a lot but it's still pretty exhausting and I really think though one of my favorite parts

[00:04:08] even though I think the whole series is fantastic I think one of the best parts was the opening

[00:04:14] episode about the very beginnings of baseball and I never even imagined that went back as far into

[00:04:22] history as it did I didn't realize that and it's so interesting to see how the game actually began

[00:04:28] who was involved what sort of competitions and games and leagues were created when it first started

[00:04:36] and how people came together I thought all that was really interesting and how it really did become

[00:04:40] this American pastime but then also later on in the series it gets into people like Jackie Robinson

[00:04:49] and all of the racism that he and many other black players received when they were trying to play in

[00:04:56] the leagues then also other big players like Joe D'Amaggio and Babe Ruth like it's so well covered

[00:05:03] across the board like I don't think they miss one piece of the game in terms of the history of it

[00:05:09] so if you are at all curious even if you don't end up watching the whole thing I would highly recommend

[00:05:14] that you check it out and if not go check out one of his other films because there's got to be

[00:05:18] something in there for you I'm sure that there is but I will always love Kim Burns I think he is

[00:05:24] an American treasure for what he's done and I've learned so much I've felt so much from his films

[00:05:32] and I hope that he continues to make documentaries for decades to come because there's no one else

[00:05:38] like him so that one is a heavy five out of five