THE STATUE OF LIBERTY The Statue of Liberty by award-winning documentarian Ken Burns is only one hour long, but is one of the most powerful films that I have ever watched. It’s a part of a series that Burns has done entitled “America. ” Because our society today is struggling with how to respond to refugees and how to uphold the values that the Statue represents, the film really resonated with me. I chose the film to study the way that Burns uses archival imagery and narration, but the film is so much more than just those things.
The film traces the history of the statue from its conception, through construction, to interviews with notable writers, composers, poets, government leaders, and immigrants who explain what the Statue of Liberty stands for. The film begins very historical and biographical, as it talks about the artist, Frederic Bartholdi, and how hard he worked to get the Statue made and brought to the New York harbour. Artwork, letters, photographs, and illustrations over narration are used. Voice actors lend variation when reading letters and recollecting immigrants’ stories about first seeing the Statue.
Movie clips with Charles Chaplin and James Stewart show how both the Statue and liberty are represented in film. Poets and songwriters lend their voices to explain what Lady Liberty means. We hear poems. We hear songs. We see a montage that shows stamps, artwork, advertisements, posters, propaganda-all kinds of paraphernalia depicting Her. The words, the images, the music of these different elements that Burns uses all invoke emotion in the audience. The on-screen interviews were shot with very naturalistic lighting, most in close-ups that feel very personal and conversational.
As the film progresses, it moves farther from simply images, and starts to focus in on these people. A call for action develops. We return to the interviews with immigrants, the poets, and a former congresswoman—they discuss what the Statue of Liberty means to them. One of the most powerful images is when the poet explains how seeing the Statue encased in scaffolding made her feel, knowing that the U. S. has also become such a closed place. Images of Lady Liberty are intercut with their faces. We see their emotions.
I wanted to see how Burns addressed a historical, monumental piece of art—something that held such value and meaning to an entire country. The combination of all the various elements really impressed me. He used historical images and letters, he used art, poetry, and music. I think that showing how the Statue was represented in art was very impactful. One of the last visuals he used was the closing scene from 1968’s Planet of the Apes with Heston’s character mourning the Statue’s destruction. And as Burns’ film concludes on a silhouette of Lady Liberty, Simon and Garfunkel’s nostalgic “American Tune” plays.
With everything that has been said by the interviewees, he is still able to incorporate additional media to drive the message home. This is what I wanted to learn from, so that as I tackle the archival images necessary to recount the older portions of my story, I can be inspired how to use them. In addition to the images, I was inspired by the use of music. I have been considering for some time that I would like to get in touch with some of the local artists that represent the history. The Baha Men and Ronnie Butler have songs that have been listened to throughout The Bahamas for years.
Though not everyone who will potentially see my film will have heard their music, I believe that the local, calypso-like sound that has existed in our islands for generations will recall a feeling of nostalgia and sentimentality that I want this story to invoke. I want viewers to mourn the loss of this art form, just as I have. I found a very inspiring quote from Ken Burns in a book about his America series: It’s interesting that for so long documentary filmmaking has been seen as a lower rung on a career ladder, ut I realized that I am absolutely, particularly pleased with the drama that is more dramatic than anything the imagination can think of. I could do ten lifetimes of these stories if I ever started doing them all. It would take me 1,000 years just to cover the last 150 in American history. (qtd. in Edgarton) As an aspiring documentary filmmaker, it’s encouraging to see that someone who has been working in the medium for many years not only finds fulfilment in what he is doing, but that he sees a future in it for years to come.
I also want to continue making these documentaries for as long as I can. I want to go from island to island, and explore what their stories are. The juxtaposition of all the different elements of art, music, history, and people that Ken Burns uses is a very powerful way to do so. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN One of the most important elements of my film is to profile The Last Boatbuilders of Man-O-War Cay, Scott Weatherford, Roy Russell, Willard Albury, and brothers, Joe and Hartley Albury. Joe Albury is the only builder still making the wooden boats.
He is a quite, shy, and humble individual, who is nevertheless incredibly talented, skilled, and passionate about what he does. When | met with Joe, I realised that he is a perfectionist with his work. He takes his time, he does it right, and due to age, he limits himself on how many boats that he works on each year. Not only that, but Joe feels the weight of preserving the legacy that was left to him by his father, grandfather, and their ancestors. He wants to keep their memories alive, but he doesn’t talk much.
He is shy and reserved with visitors and in front of the camera. How do I profile someone who has a hard time opening up? How do I draw attention to his work and how do I help my audience get to know who he is as a person? To do this, I want to examine another Oscar winner documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, which profiles an amazingly talented but meek artist Sixto Rodriguez. A lot of the story is told through interviews. We find out who Rodriguez is through the impact he has had on others.
Bendjelloul uses historical footage and mages, motion media, and present day footage of locations to unravel the story. The city of Detroit, where Rodriguez is from, also becomes a character in the film. Bendjelloul uses sweeping beauty shots, archival images, and animation to bring the city to life. Detroit helped shape Rodriguez into the person and the artist that he is. The two most valuable things that I gleaned from Sugar Man was the use of interviews with people who care about the profiled individual, and also exploring his environment. Rodriguez’s daughters are introduced in the film even before we meet him.
In The Last Boatbuilders, I want my audience to get to know who these men are, especially Joe, who doesn’t have a lot to say. I want to show their environment, the island that has always been their home. Just like Sugar Man uses beauty shots to introduce Detroit, I want to use beauty shots of Man-O-War Cay to help my viewer learn more about who Scott Weatherford, Roy Russell, Willard Albury, Joe and Hartley Albury really are. This will not be extremely hard to do because Man-O-War is such a beautiful place. It’s a little island only about 2 1/2 miles long, with