Liberty - The American Revolution

Rating:
Summary: The real people of the American Revolution
Review: A New York man tells of watching the British Fleet arrive in the harbor from his outhouse. A southern gentleman tells of seeing the horrible revenge of the Loyalists, who left four severed heads on a fireplace mantle. John Adams admits that he voted for Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence because Jefferson was more popular and a better writer than he. Using the actual words from letters and diaries, actors portray the people of the American Revolution, giving "Liberty! - The American Revolution" the feel of a news documentary. A splendid narrator gives viewers the scenerio and background stories. Visuals such as live reenactments and easy-to-follow battle maps make "Liberty! - The American Revolution" clear enough for a 12-year-old to follow, yet detailed enough to keep the presentation interesting for even the well-educated historian. The documentary not only presents the facts, it also delves into the psychological profiles of the famous and not-so-famous people who made the revolution a success. When the series is over, the audience understands what would drive loyal British subjects to declare independence and why the revolutionaries were willing to fight and die for freedom.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent video "context" of the Revolution...
Review: A wonderfully acted and directed "period" piece that brings the Revolution and the Revolutionary times to your VCR. Like many of the previous reviewers, I initially was a tad disappointed at some of the short coverage of some of the major events (the Southern theatre, for example...), but soon realized that the main objective of this work is to portray the people (warts and all) behind the push for Independance, and not necessarily view this as a documentary. The "people" aspect here is lively and informative and succeeds overwhelmingly with bringing the feeling of the War and the period to life. Not only are the legendary central figures portrayed (Philip Bosco is extraordinary as Benjamin Franklin...), but the everyday person along with the lowest level soldiers (Philip Hoffman as Joseph Plumb Martin is wonderful...) get presented...each with his/her own unique reading that fully covers the emotion and frustration of this time. For the historians, we get excellent accounts of John Burgoyne's march to defeat at Saratoga, the diplomacy activities of Franklin and others in bringing the French in as allies, the view from England's monarchy and Parliament and the final major battle at Yorktown...all wonderfully acted and plausibly portrayed. If this video set is coupled with the companion book, one gets an excellent and refreshing account of the Revolution which should be counted as required viewing/reading for all Revolutionary War fans. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Most Excellent Video
Review: After seeing the documentary on PBS I bought the video and quite frankly I never tire of watching many times over. It is wonderfully inspirational and enlightening. It taught me more about the American Revolution than I learned in high school. It has a Ken Burns like quality to it with costumed actors reading the words of the major people of the Revolution on screen along with commentaries by both American and British historians. The British point of view is not patronizing, condescending, or embittered about the lost of the 13 colonies that became the United States, but rather cooly detached and objective as it should be. Although somewhat short on details about some of the major battles, and though it treats Benedict Arnold's plan to turn over West Point to the British as a mere footnote, this documentary is good enough to satisfy any ardent historian.

The music for the soundtrack by Mark O'Connor is particularly beautiful and wonderful to listen to on its separate compact disc.

One another note: While some of the other videos of America's later history such as the Mexican American War, Civil War, and the Conquest of the West try to be more objective, critical, and politically correct, in light of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, this documentary reminds all Americans how we came to be and why tyrants - whether they are kings or terrorists must be defeated!

Rating:
Summary: Running on 5 stars until volume 3
Review: Even better than the series "The American Revolution" (AR) and then stumbled over the same mistake. The war was waged in the north until the stalemate drove the British south to try their hand there. Bouyed by smashing victories at Charleston and Camden the whole thing became unstrung. Partisans like Sumter and Marion (of "The Patriot"), stunning setbacks like King's Mountain and Cowpens were the real turning points of the war. Not the stalemate of the north but setups for the real victory at Yorktown. The problem? Neither Camden, nor Marion nor Sumter, not King's Mountain, or Cowpens were mentioned at all. This is another northern history which casts the decisive southern campaign as a sideshow. It does not stop there but goes on to paint southerners as sadists. I found myself wondering "weren't the British the enemy here?"
Abigal Adams is well depicted and the Burgoyne character is also quite good. The actor portraying Joseph Plumb Martin captures his wit and sarcasm and Lafayette is brilliant. It is just this reflexive South-bashing than undermines both Liberty and AR. "The Patriot", flawed Hollywood history that it is, captures the spirit and the significance that the third tape misses.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Good, Minus Some Important Details
Review: Liberty was a well done documentary on the Revolutionary War. It goes into heavy detail on many aspects that led to the outbreak of war and focuses well on the actions of early revolutionaries like Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Unfortunately, it falls short of its account of the battles of the war. The documentary all but ignores the Battle of Saratoga, an instrutmental battle that turned the course of the war. This battle is what led the French to get involved in the war, another aspect that is almost completely ignored. The film does go into great detail on specific campaigns and battles, like Yorktown, but does so at the expense at other important stories. Benedict Arnold is ignored except for about a ten minute segment simply stating that he was a traitor and failed in turning West Point over to the British. I would recommend another documentary, the A&E and History Channel's American Revolution. It provides a much better view of the entire conflict.

Rating:
Summary: Best American Revolution Documentary
Review: Liberty! is probably the best historical documentary I have ever seen. Throughout the years, my civics, social studies, and history classes have been showing videos on the American Revolution almost every year. Most give the same information: the Tea Act, "No Taxation Without Representation," boycott, Boston Tea Party, "Shot Heard 'Round the World," all the battles, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Besides the monotony, there was always a slight slant to the history. The videos, like the textbooks, often gave black-and-white views of the Revolution. All British were snotty and wrong; all Americans were humble and right. They talked of battles in the sense of numbers and victories, like keeping score of an extremely long game of tag.
Liberty!, I am happy to say, is different. For once, it is a documentary that shows the opinions of all sides. Those who remained loyal to the British are actually discussed and given viable reasons for their loyalty, unlike other stories that portray them as wealthy or indifferent people that were the enemies of the righteous. Also, it gives new light to the "colonists-band-together-for-a-mutual-cause" idea as the not-so-widespread opinion that America should detach itself from Britain and become its own nation. In fact, Liberty! sheds new light on many unmentioned factors of the Revolution. It displays conflict and change other than that between America and Britain.
The highlight of the series is how it shows all views. It gets and tells its information from a combination of expert historians and actual letters, journal entries, and other historic documents from the Revolution. While most documentaries do also, they dispense facts through a narrator. Liberty!, though having Edward Herrman as an excellent narrator, also uses actors and re-creations. The actors, in full colonial times attire and playing the writers of these letters, speak directly to the camera and bring the Revolution and the series down to a much more personal, intimate level. It makes the War more real to hear these people as though they were still alive today. I was especially touched by Abigail Adams' letters to her husband (the actress was both talented and beautiful) and was delighted with the Marquis de Lafayette, who was bouncy and enthusiastic.
The interviews with eloquent historians, too, give great details, back-story, and opinions. The balance between personal accounts, paintings, interviews, and filmed re-creations is a great asset to Liberty! They add reality, humor, horror, sadness, and power.
Liberty! - The American Revolution is a well-directed, realistic, personal, easy-to-understand, and definitely easy-to-stay-awake-and-watch documentary series. To top it all off, it has a great song at the end of each video. ; )

Rating:
Summary: A PBS television series masterpiece.
Review: This is an excellent masterpiece documentary series on the American Revolution. It provides a vivid potrait of American life through the American revoultion. It is full of wonderful commentaries from people of the time, and contains nice imagery and music. It also accurately documents the fighting and planning of the war itself, and explains the causes of the war. It is a grat documentary series, that is guranteed to please all that study American history.