Half a century after the height of the conflict might seem like an ideal moment for another look: long enough for most of the toxic political dust to have settled and new historical sources to have emerged , but not so long that everyone who lived through it is dead.
It also offers an uncannily well-timed reflection of our current societal fractures — a kind of origin story for the culture wars that still have us asking: Which side are you on? Burns said. Burns was speaking last month at the small New York office of his production company, Florentine Films, where he and Ms. Novick were pausing amid a barnstorming date tour to promote the film, which will air over two weeks, starting with a Sunday night doubleheader, old-school event-television style.
Binge-watchers can stream it in two gulps, released each weekend during the run. In conversation, Mr. Burns is the more expansive of the pair, speaking in eloquent riffs larded with references to Mark Twain, Learned Hand, the Declaration of Independence and the ancient Greek concept of heroism, and floating a favorite analogy comparing filmmaking to boiling down maple syrup.
Burns and Ms. Novick set some ground rules. No historians or other expert talking heads. Burns put it. The filmmakers met with Mr. McCain and Mr. Kerry for advice early on, and said both were supportive. Some other prominent figures expressed interest in being interviewed, Mr. Burns said, and were politely rebuffed. Instead, the 79 onscreen interviews give the ground-up view of the war from the mostly ordinary people who lived through it: American veterans including former P.
The tone is carefully evenhanded. But by the end of Episode 4, which takes the story up to June , things seem to be going so disastrously wrong that viewers may find themselves amazed that there are still six episodes and seven years of carnage — eventually claiming more than 58, American and more than three million Vietnamese military and civilian lives — to go. That may be wishful thinking.
