Out of all American political figures who were not presidents, Benjamin Franklin is probably the one with the most interesting life. Similarly to Leonardo da Vinci, he was a kind of Renaissance Man who possessed incredible skill in many different subjects and endeavors. During his lifetime, he was an inventor, a scientist, a postmaster, a father, an ambassador to France and the UK, a patriot, and at the time the most famous American on Earth. Without him, the US might not even exist today. This rather short Ken Burns series goes over Franklin's life in the intriguing and smartly written fashion we've come to expect of his documentaries. While historical subjects outside of the World Wars or late 1800s are typically beyond my interest, Burns is somehow always able to make essentially any time period fun to learn about. As per usual, we get a good narrator in the form of Peter Coyote (who also narrated Burns' masterpiece on Vietnam), a musical score that wouldn't sound out of place if it were composed in the 18th century, and various historians weighing in when it comes to Franklin's decisions and activities. While it is quite hard to go over every important detail of his life since the series presents a lot of them, some highlights include how he came up with an instrument using an array of glass bowls to produce sound with friction called a glass harmonica. Beethoven and Mozart composed pieces for it. His son, William Franklin, was royal governor of New Jersey during colonial times and wanted to see the american colonies remain friendly with England. A surprisingly large portion of Ben's life was dedicated to trying to uphold a good relationship between england and its possessions in north america, something that would sadly end in failure as Franklin eventually came to understand there was no future for him or anyone like him in england. Although he thought of himself as a Brit for much of his life, he would ultimately become an american during the Revolutionary War, and broke off relations with his son as he was unwilling to change his loyalist stance. As most already know, Franklin was also an accomplished scientist and arguably knew more about electricity than anyone else in the world at the time. His famous experiment involving a kite attracted praise from such legends as John Locke. Franklin was present in france when he witnessed the first piloted ascent by humans in history, when the Montgolfier brothers tested a hot air balloon. As for the documentary itself and how it's presented, I found it to be still really good, but not as good as many of Burns' other efforts. Don't get me wrong, there are still a wealth of beautiful outdoor shots of historical places Franklin was present in (one of which I live very close to), and mentions of Franklin's dislike of and rivalry with John Adams, but the problems arise when you notice how patronizing many of the historians are. Of course, it's basically impossible to discuss the time period Franklin lived in without bringing up slavery, and the documentary certainly has no shortage of mentioning it. Franklin did own slaves, but people now are going to get very hung up on this, acting like events from almost 300 years ago should conform to their sweet and innocent view of the current world. History is history, and it doesn't care about how you might feel about something immoral. If people can't learn to accept what's already happened, they will mentally destroy themselves since you can't alter the past. In all, I found this series to be a good overview of Franklin and what made him such a crucial figure in american history, even if the leftist overtone surrounding it was shoved in my face a little too much. Come to think of it, every single Burns documentary I've watched so far suffers from this to at least some degree, but this is the most up front it's ever been.
Review of Benjamin Franklin
