Recently watched Ken Burns’ latest documentary, Hemingway.
Like all Burns’ (with Lynn Novick) ) work, this was meticulous, well done and had some incredible (old) photography, both stills and movies..
While Hemingway is one of my favorite authors, and Burns/Novick probably my favorite documentations, this one just didn’t do it for me. Mind you, well done and a deep dive on the controversial author, it seemed, surprisingly, empty. Don’t exactly know why.
It’s a three-part documentary (two hours for each segment:
- A Writer – learning his craft, working as a journalist, and becoming a very successful writer – first short stories, and then the early novels.
- The Avatar – A better name for this section should be “The Myth” – Hemingway was as much a myth as he was a writer: Big game hunter, traveler, consummate alcoholic, rubbing elbows with other famous writers, actors and – especially – other women.
- The Blank Page – The later years, the destructive behavior and the decline of his abilities, with some notable exceptions, the great A Moveable Feast (published posthumously).
The first part was my favorite; this era is when the Hemingway I like was doing his best work, and gathering experiences (ambulance driver in the First World War) that would help fuel future works.
The third part was interesting as it really showed how Hemingway’s later life was – full of booze, erratic behavior, womanizing and so on. A lot of what was presented was new to me, and I’ve read a lot about Hemingway.
Burns/Novick are scheduled to come out with a Frank Lloyd Wright documentary in April 2021; high hopes for this one, as well. Hemingway and Wright are somewhat similar characters: both womanizers, 20th Century giants in their respective fields, and – especially – both held themselves in higher regard than others did.
