Rating: 
Summary: A true Life-Changer
Review: When I first saw the PBS series, I was so deeply moved. The cinematography was so unique. Bring on the DVD so I can watch this series 50 more times!
Rating: 
Summary: History Meets Political Correctness
Review: Although Mr. Burns' film is a riveting story that can fill one with passion, fear, disgust and even a little animosity, I think the words that comes to mind to me are "What a wonderfull story teller"....
I went to school at a time before revisionists had not yet taken hold of education and turned it into a feel good about school and yourselves at the expence of accuracy.
Look up some old books written by former slaves, soldiers, civilians, whose lives were destroyed by war and "Reconstruction". Read their words, feel their passion not some one trying to be "a story teller". I read several other reviews about this film by people gushing over Mr. Burns like he was some sort of History god. .... I disagree sharply with some of his reviews and ideas about the Civil War but he does open doors that "story tellers" would rather keep closed.
I too, as the Southerners did, fought in a losing war and came home to half a country that hated me for standing up for my ideals,honor and duty. People have been trying to take that from the South for over 130 years. I know I sound like a Southerner
but my sympathys lie with men in the blue uniforms. Born a Yankee and always a Yankee. But truth is truth and "story telling is story telling". Don't watch the story so closely that the truth slips by. Look for it yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Let the Words Seep Into Your Being
Review: Not only is this the best documentary ever produced, but this is one of the best films ever made. Never before has the moving picture been reduced in such eloquence to stills and voice narratives. Direct your attention to the images as they appear. Listen to the voices as they describe the awful carnage, the uplifting tales, the deep sadness that permiates this film. If you do this, you cannot but help to be transported to the greatest and most horrible era of our country. If you want to understand the entire film within the briefest of moments, listen to the last letter. This sums up the entire film in a way that is really beyond the words that are read aloud.
Rating:
Summary: experience
Review: When I first saw Ken Burn's The Civil War, I thought it was the greatest Documentary since Victory At Sea of the mid fifties. When I was in grade school I had an interest in the Civil War. As I got older the interest was lost and this film rekindled it, I went on a Civil War vacation to all the battlefield sites in the east and deep south, Walking some of these fields is an emotional experience. Thanks Ken,
Rating:
Summary: The Civil War-A Film By Ken Burns
Review: I can't say enough good things about this film! What Burns has created is nothing less than a documentary masterpiece. I personally have seen this entire film at least five times and I learn and see new things with each viewing. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. The entire film is filled with vintage photographs, Civil War era music, superb narration and the insights of those who lived through the war themselves. I have noticed a few minor factual errors in the film (i.e., Lincoln was 56 when he died, not 54), but they are few and certainly do not take away from the impact of this magnificent work. This one is definitely worth the money. I can recommend it without reservation.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction
Review: Ken Burns' Civil War is an excellent introduction to the period, told well with style. It's a documentary, not a history book. It is, however, far more accurate and balanced than other Civil War documentaries (such as the History Channel's Civil War Journal). To hit on a couple of criticisms in other reviews, slavery as a cause of the Civil War is an argument bordering on the level of a holy war, itself. Recent magazine articles and essays have done a good job of discussing it. The result is that both Burns' view and the "Burns' is wrong, it was all about states rights" views are both simplistic. Burns' documentary does a good job of capturing the Southern view of slavery and abolition but he does over state the view of the north as abolitionist. While there were Southern abolitionists and Southern soldiers who didn't care one way or another, Burns shows quite well that without slavery there would have been no war. (The statement that the South only fought for "states rights" was actually championed in the 1880s. If states rights were the only reason for fighting the war, why did the Confederate Constitution prevent any Confederate state from passing a law against slavery, even if that state wanted to abolish it?) To the point of Grant being the first Lt. General since Washington, Burns is both right and wrong. Winfield Scott was made Lt. General, but it was a brevet (something a little more than honorary) rank. It was a brevet specifically so that Washington would be the only man to have officially held that rank. This changed when Grant was given the rank.
Rating: 
Summary: Politically Correct Sophistry
Review: Frassinito, the undisputed authority on Civil War photography states that 75% of the photographs were not paired with the the correct narrative. This was instead manufactured for dramatic effect. That is the least of Burns' sins. The film, while artfully crafted, fails along three main fault lines.1)The usual dribble about slavery as the cause of the war, to the complete exclusion of the north's complicity in creating and sustaining it. 2) The fixation with the Andersonville POW story, even though at the end of the war Lincoln's Sec.of War, Stanton placed Southern POW casualties higher.3)The fiction of reconstruction, presented as a successful and noble social endeavor rather than the naked occupation and exploitation that it was.
This is the most potent and blatent propaganda of the 20th Century, a sin all the more terrible because of the technical skill in the film making. It would make Josef Goebbels jealous!
Rating:
Summary: Well filmed well acted well worth the price
Review: Ken Burns first effort was simply a masterpiece. I am a history buff who had very little interest in the civil war. Mr. Burns changed that, (With some help from Shelby Foote.) The history is great. The actors for the voices were well picked, and most important the EDITING made this film. As I recall before this film it was rare that a picture featuring primarly stil photos. It started a flow of imitators. This film like A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM was made a classic in the editing room. (And I'll wager nobody ever figured you could put these two films in a relevent sentence together.) The technique of focusing on a figure in a shot, then a second shot pulled back, then a final shot of the whole scene added drama (unlike Forum who's cuts added farce.) and brought the story alive. Burns duplicated his winning ways in BASEBALL but this one stands above the rest as the trailblazer.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best TV has done, BUT
Review: The Ken Burns series is good, but has NUMEROUS errors of fact and interpretation. Too often the filmmaker relies on writers, not historians, or historians with an axe to grind. Slavery is given as the main cause of the war. This is true and not true. Without slavery, the war would never have happened, yet it was not sufficient in and of itself. Other errors include the age of Lincoln when he died, that Grant was not the first person since Washington to be a Lt. General (Winfield Scott held the rank) and the number of boys under 17 to enlist in the Union Army, off by an order of magnitude. Watch it, but don't make it a sole resource.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece Beyond Comparison
Review: I have seen a number of people raving about Ken Burns' "The Civil War" who referred to this massive film simply as "a documentary." For anyone who has seen it "The Civil War" is not just a documentary, it is THE documentary. To proclaim this magnificent set the greatest documentary of all time does not does "The Civil War" justice. A powerhouse of emotion, intelligence and ultimately a fascinating story brilliantly told, Ken Burns reinvented the documentary with a style of such grace and humanity that he lifted the entire medium to the level of high art. But "The Civil War" is so much more than just a documentary. The film tells a story of the people and places shattered by a war that would so fracture an entire nation that it pitted brother against brother. We see those fighting for honor, fighting for their way of life and some (eventually) even fighting for their very freedom and how this conflict intended to hold a nation together nearly destroyed it. "The Civil War" is such a masterful piece of storytelling it is enough to make one wish all naratives -- non-fiction or fiction -- were this strong. The fact such a masterpiece came from television, the motion picture's much kicked around cousin, is besides the point. T.V. show or not, "The Civil War" is the greatest movie of all time, period.
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