Recommended: Benjamin Franklin on PBS
What's Benjamin Franklin About?
Benjamin Franklin's life, achievements, and ongoing historical resonance are explored with nuanced research and context.
Who's involved?
Why (and to whom) do we recommend it?
By now, there's something comforting about the Ken Burns approach: When he tackles a subject, we know we're going to see slow pans across vintage paintings, hear dignified voices read historical letters, and meet a bevy of well-spoken historians. Benjamin Franklin follows that recipe to the last ingredient.
But the familiarity of the style shouldn't be mistaken for a shallow investigation of the hundred-dollar Founding Father.
Each of Franklin's many achievements —from his groundbreaking studies of electricity and his vital diplomacy during the American Revolution to his publication of Poor Richard's Almanac and his identification of the gulf stream — are contextualized with idiosyncratic details about his personal life. For instance, we learn that when he oversaw the signing of a treaty with France to fight alongside America, he intentionally wore the same coat he had on when he was mocked during an appearance at British Parliament. That's petty funny, and it's a nice reminder he was a real person.
His more serious flaws are also on display. The series acknowledges that Franklin owned enslaved people for most of his life and was late to the abolitionist cause. One historian calls him an abject failure as a husband and father, which sets up a fascinating throughline about his fraught relationship with his son William. The younger Franklin was the last loyalist governor in America, and he didn't speak to his father for ten years after the Revolution. This kind of pain would be erased in a more general celebration of American independence.
Another historian notes that by honoring the monarchy he had pledged to serve, William was standing up for his principles, as his father taught him. That thorny point underscores how this documentary works: Nothing is presented simply, because people aren't simple. We're allowed to see Franklin's greatness alongside his follies, and we're trusted to reconcile them for ourselves.
Pairs well with
TOPICS: Benjamin Franklin, PBS, Carolyn McCormick, Josh Lucas, Ken Burns, Liam Neeson, Mandy Patinkin, Paul Giamatti, Peter Coyote