The Ric Burns (Civil War, Jazz) documentary is thorough enough to teach even New Yorkers about native home. At 14 hours, perhaps that's not a hard thing to do, but it is worth every minute. At its heart, it's the story of NY from 1609 to 2000. But at its core, what you will take away from it is that New York's is the tale of America. "New York, more than any other city in the United States, tells the story of America to itself."-- and it does.
Most enlightening to potential viewers will be the last chapter "The city and the world" that brings us from the end of WWII into the present. The meat here is the whole "urban renewal" failure of the 80's and 90's, as well as the once and future problem of suburban expansion. And, as always, they show how New York was THE leader of the pack in all of these urban questions. In watching the documentary, you cannot help but realize that what happens in NY, inevitably happens in the rest of the USA. Ric Burns' documentary is so much more, part 3 is the true story of New York that Scorsese hopes to capture in "Gangs of New York" this December (not even he has a shot at this). This documentary is delightful in its simplicity and subtle in its sentimentality (no bashing over the head, "NY rules", and its all la-tee-da). Lovers and haters of NY are all interviewed and allowed to give their slant. Although the villification of Robert Moses and complete hatred of him is made manifest-- because it was true then and is true now. The films does not go into detail during wars, which I might have liked to see more of, but the fact is that NY (as you will see) has not played a large role in war, except as a stage for the rest of the US to play on (a-la VJ-day). Urbanists, the NY-curious, educators, the educated-- see this documentary.
The story of Walt Whitman, the story of Abe Lincoln, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Al Smith, la Guardia, FDR, George Washington, Stuyvesant, and more were MADE in New York City. New York has been referred to as a foreign city with over 50% of its people born outside of the country, but it turns out to be the most American of any city-- the real mixing pot, where everyone is forced to get along and to find a way to work together (the United Nations?). This film won 2001 Emmys for best editing and best non-fiction programming to give you an idea of its cinematic quality.
It is NOT about September 11th, but you connect 'what happens to NY, happens to the rest 10 years later' to that date, it begs the question. There are other documentaries about that NY event. NY was the first to experience a massive suicide bombing (episode 3) and it will likely be the first city again. Since the Civil War, you will see, it has been the First City of the world, the Capitol of the world. The best damn city, with one of the most remarkable histories of any place you could name-- laid out with great storytelling by Ric Burns' PBS documentary. 9.5/10
