Customer Reviews

Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film makes history live. The Core of Discovery expedition was more than a century and a half before my birth and yet, this film made me feel as if I were a member.
Like other Ken Burns films, it is long. However, like other Ken Burns films, it encouraged me to take my time. I watched the 4 hours one segment at a time in the evenings with dinner over the course of almost two weeks. And what a viewing!
I never knew that the Lewis and Clark expedition was a military expedition. I never knew that Lewis and Clark where military officers and that they took a platoon of soldiers with them. I never knew that they took plant and animal samples, including sending a live ground hog back to Thomas Jefferson.
I never knew that the expedition was called the Core of Discovery or that these two incredible military officers took so many soldiers such an incredible distance over the course of years and lost only one, who was lost to a disease that most likely no one could have cured at the time. I never knew that they drew the first map of most of the United States, using only dead reconning and were accurate to withing 40 miles of the actual distance despite their primative instruments and a distance of some 4,000 miles! I never knew these men were so incredible. And, I never knew that Merriweather Lewis was so incredibly depressed that he died, "I'm sorry to say," by suicide.
This film is so personal, I felt the tears that the historian on the film displayed when he told of Lewis' death. He died more than a century before my birth and yet, by the time I was finished with the film, I felt pain for his death, anger at York's difficulty gaing his freedom and sadness at the passing of the Shoshone Indian lady guide Sakajeya.
Films like this might actually make me like history, a topic I learned to hate in elementary school. I wish there were more historical films like this one. I wish I were on Ken Burns' staff. I'd love to do research like this. I'd love to bring life not only to history, but to the people who view it. What a great film!

I had always thought that "Baseball" and "The Civil War" were very good films. However, as good as they are, they do not compare to "Lewis and Clark." The job which Burns did in blending images of the time period, the west, and the telling of a true American story through the words of historians such as Dayton Duncan and Stephen Ambrose, as well as the narration of a script which included journal entries of several members of the Corps, was marvelous. Before seeing this documentary, I had never appreciated the difficulties, hardships, and dangers which Captains Lewis and Clark and the rest of the Corps of Discovery had to meet and overcome, nor did I ever appreciate the fact that these men were, in every sense of the word, heroes. I would recommend this tape for anyone who has an even slight interest in American History. This documentary draws your emotions into it, and is perhaps as close as an average person can ever come to feeling the emotions of triumph, tragedy, excitment, fear, apprehension, and patriotism which the member of the members of the corps felt. A trueley wonderful film and well worth the cost.

I absolutely love this movie. Something about the Lewis & Clark expedition appeals to the adventurer in each of us. The United States as a country is less than 30 years old on May 14, 1804, as Lewis & Clark leave with Jefferson's "the Corps of Discovery" on their famous expedition to explore the west. The photography of this DVD is stunningly beautiful, the music hauntingly reminiscent of the early 1800's. The story is told through reading excerpts from the Corps' diaries and journals, beautiful photography, and interviews with Dayton Duncan (writer), John Logan Allen (geographer), Stephen E. Ambrose (historian), William Least Heat-Moon (writer), James P. Ronda (historian), Mylie Lawyer (Twisted Hair Descendant), and others. This movie leaves the sense of having travelled with the Lewis & Clark expedition and having seen the beautiful country with their eyes, as you hear their words and see the land they saw.

As stated of the Corps of Discovery in the movie's Introduction, "They were beginning the most important expedition in American History, the United States' first official exploration into unknown spaces, and a glimpse into the future of their young nation. They would become the first United States citizens to experience the Great Plains, the immensity of its skies, the rich splendor of its wildlife, the harsh rigor of its winters. They would be the first United States citizens to see the daunting peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the first to struggle over them, the first to cross the Continental Divide -- to where the rivers flow west. And after encountering cold, hunger, danger, and wonders beyond belief, they would become the first of their nation to reach the Pacific Ocean by land. It would be the greatest adventure of their lives. . . It's a great story. It's a human story. It's a story of those who went first. THEY were first. They led the way. They opened the trail." "It's America's story . . . They turned the nation and faced it west. And that's where the future has always been, that's where hope and possibility have been. And I think that is what draws us to Lewis and Clark, it's about possibilities, it is about what could be. . . it's about potential, the future, and hope."

I first borrowed this DVD from our local library, but then had to buy it for my own. Sometimes I watch it just for the beauty of the scenery and the hopeful young optimism of a new country, looking west all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Disc One has these chapters:
Introduction (the start of the Corps)
The Grandfather Spirit (the Mississippi River)
The Garden of Eden (the Great Plains)
Our Friends (the Mandan Indians and Fort Mandan)
The Real Unknown (Montana)
The Portage (around the Great Falls of the Missouri River)
The Northwest Passage (the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide)
Special Features:
Interview with Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan
Interview with Stephen Ambrose

Disc Two
Introduction (summer of 1805 and summary of accomplishments)
The Most Terrible Mountains (Rocky Mountains)
Watkuweis (the elderly woman of Nez Perce "Returned From Being Lost")
O! The Joy (the Pacific Ocean)
Rainy and Wet (Fort Clatsop)
Done for Posterity (the end of the expedition)
Special Features
The Making of Lewis and Clark
Ken Burns: Making History
A Conversation with Ken Burns

You can read more on PBS' Lewis & Clark website:
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

Being a product of the deep south I am well versed in the Civil War. But "Lewis and Clark" was pared down to "some guys who went west." I never realized the undertaking that these courageous people endeavored to accomplish. This is a moving and touching film that reaches the explorer deep inside everyone. And, to think Ken Burns did not major in history! I loved it so much I bought several copies for friends. What else can one say as an endorsement? Thanks Ken Burns for bringing this monumental adventure to life.

Ken Burns did another outstanding job in this documentary of an important part of American history, the Exploration of Lewis and Clark. The outdoor scenery from the East Coast to the West Coast is vivid and the great plains, the forestry of the East and West Coast and everything in between is beautiful and enhance this documentary brilliantly.

Burns goes into the lives of Lewis and Clark before there famed journey and gives the explanation of the curiousity and drive that made these two men travel the unchartered territory of the Louisiana Purchase. Due credit is given to the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson who was the cornerstone and guiding force behind this journey.

The account of the journey and the tales, joys and griefs as well as the unrelenting hardships are given with compassion and clarity. The narration by Hal Holbrook and the script written by Dayton Duncan, immediatly draws the viewers interest.

The encounters with the Native Americans are fascinating and the contribution by the famous Native American guide Sacagawea is also given her due respect and admiration.

Overall, this is an excellent documentary that is beautifully photographed, interesting and accurate in the historical analysis, and is a delight to watch. Highly recommended!

Ken Burns has pulled me into this story like nothing else could have. This presentation combines stories told in a most compelling way, readings from the journals, pictures and paintings, and music in a way that makes the Lewis & Clark expedition come alive. It's an adventure story that transcends time. I was so blown away when I first saw it on PBS that I bought the book, the VHS video, and now the CD/book combo. I am watching it now for the 10th time, and I still cry when I get to Grinder's Stand. My son is now writing a report on Lewis and Clark for school, and he is using this DVD as his primary source. He chose the topic, and it's one of the few stories that has captured his attention other than Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. (Thank you, Ken Burns!) This is a real-life adventure story that is expertly told. (I would love to get the soundtrack that PBS used to sell, but they apparently no longer sell it.)

This is a superb four-hour presentation of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition, which was the first group of non-natives to cross the North American continent in the early 1800s. Thinking back, I remember seeing historical markers and signs for the "Lewis and Clark Trail" along various highways in the Midwest but, prior to viewing this film, I didn't really know where they went or what incredible hardships and risks they faced. This excellent documentary gives the full picture of these two explorers, including their personal lives and background. It also gives due credit to the corps of men (and two women) who accompanied them.

Tape #1 traces their route as far as the Rocky Mountains, while tape #2 picks up from there and continues to the Pacific Ocean and back, with follow-up on what happened to some of the participants after the expedition was over. (Interestingly, many of the crew were unable to settle back into "civilized" routine again, and went West to become mountain men or settlers. Lewis himself, who seems to have had some sort of bi-polar disorder that ran in the family, fell into a deep depression and committed suicide -- a tragic ending to a brave life.)

I found the presentation to be very well-balanced, giving the Native American viewpoints as well as the written records from the expedition journals. Some of the Native tribes have oral traditions about meeting Lewis and Clark which have been passed down through the generations, and it was fascinating to hear their perspectives. The film also gives proper credit to the role of Sacajewea, the Indian woman who accompanied them on much of the journey. Her presence on the expedition (along with her newly-born son) helped prove to possibly hostile tribes that Lewis and Clark came in peace, since a war party would not take a woman along. There was also a black slave on the expedition, and his story is well-covered, too. On the technical end, the photography is magnificent, giving a good feel for the awe that the expediiion must have felt upon seeing these sights for the first time. Ten stars!

I'd come to 'Lewis and Clark' already having seen Burns' documentary on Jefferson, so my expectations were soaring. Pleased to say, they were never deflated. This film is excellent.

The first thing any viewer of L&C notices is the suspense and forward motion. This is adventure at it's highest; so much so that I needed to remind myself that no one should find a PBS documentary this exciting!! The film actually follows, from location to location, the movement of Lewis and Clark's expidition. Hal Holbrook's narration is interspersed with bits from the men's journals read by very capable actors. In short, it truly played like a superb adventure film.

In as much detail as possible, we get to see it all. The journey, the relationships, the anxieties and the triumphs; From the bonds and battles with various indian tribes, to Meriwether Lewis' depressions and ultimate suicide. The only possible negative comment, that the film was a whopping 4 hours, in the end turns out to be an asset. If the film had been shorter, details would have had to be sacrificed which in the end gave the film such a powerful excitement.

Even for the historical documentary skeptic, one viewing of L&C will change your mind. Skip Indana Jones and check this one out!!

His big series on the "Civil War" and "Baseball" get all the hype but,with Hal Holbrook narrarting and a "who's who" in history backing him up with the running color commentary, this is his most engrossing work. This documentary gives you a real sense of accomplishment when you have finished and if you can resist reading about the expedition after you've seen it, then check your pulse I think you need a doctor. The basis of the movie is the journals kept by Lewis and Clark during the trip. They were truly diverse men that could not only handle the hardships of the journey but, eloquently place the events in writing. Any fiction writer would be pressed to keep you as interested as the actual events recorded. This is fantastic stuff.

I can truthfully say this is the best film I have ever seen. The cinematography is so beautifully done, and all the narrators are superb. The story of Lewis and Clark is portrayed so well on the screen I would swear Ken Burns was a member of the Corp of Discovery himself. And, to top it all off the music is so brilliantly meshed with the picture and narration, the film seems to have a flow to it, giving the viewer the feeling that their paddling on down the Mighty Missouri themselves.I reccommend buying the soundtrack as well, and it will soon become one of your favorite cd's.