Hemingway

"Hemingway" (2021 release; 3 episodes of about 115 min. Each) is a new documentary about Ernest Hemingway. As Episode 1 "The Writer (1899-1928)" opens, we get some introductory remarks of various experts and talking heads. As writer Michael Katakis puts it: "Despite all of his flaws, he seems to understand humans." Someone else puts it more succinct: "I hate Hemingway the myth, as it obscures Hemingway the man." We then go back in time, to the early years of Hemingway's upbringing in Oak Park, a comfortable Chicago suburb, with his 5 siblings and his parents. At this point we are 10 min. Into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest project from Ken Burns, co-directed by Burns and his longtime collaborator Lynn Novick. Here they tackle the man, the myth that is Ernest Hemingway. Despite his notoriety and reputation, I must admit I knew virtually nothing of his life, let alone much of his work. To say that Hemingway had an interesting life would be the understatement of the year. There are 3 episodes in this series. Besides the afore-mentioned Episode 1, there is also EP 2 "The Avatar (1928-1944)" and EP 3 "The Blank Page (1944-1961)". If Episode 1 is an indication of what is yet to come (and why wouldn't it), the film makers have meticulously researched Hemingway in order to present to us who he really was, going beyond the myth, the legend. The fascinating part of Episode 1 is that Hemingway struggled, and struggled long, to become a respected and eventually successful writer. Basically an "overnight success that was years in the making". The amount of (B&W) pictures and even some archive footage that Burns and Novick were able to dig up is impressive. Bottom line, this is a thoroughly insightful, educational and yes, entertaining reassessment of the life and times of Ernest Hemingway, and I can't wait to check out the remaining two episodes.

"Hemingway" premiered this week on PBS and is now available on PBS On Demand, Amazon Instant Video, and other streaming services. If you have any interest in Ernest Hemingway (even if you don't really know much about him--as was for case for me), or are simply a fan of Ken Burns, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

UPDATE 4/10/21 I've now seen the other 2 episodes, and they only confirm all of the good that appeared in the first episodes. All around a terrific documentary series.

He died before I was 10, and I've never read any of his books, though I've seen the movie adaptations. Heard all my life of his machismo and the suspected underlying homosexuality.

This documentary filled in a lot of the gaps - how he gained his reputation, abused his wives and children (basically everyone in his orbit), his genius for - and perseverance in - writing; his obvious late-life mental illness.

This is the life of passionate and complex man. Here the documentary is very much one of an outsider looking in, like walking through an old museum and seeing lots of memorabilia in glass cases.

The format seems cookie cutter - a Burns documentary and flat narration where the subject of the day could be anything.

It shows what, but never really understands why.

Obviously there has been much effort in to collecting material. But, we are presented with a dry collage of events.

This is an excellent bio of an iconic figure in American literature. However, the choice of Jeff Daniels to voice Hemingway as he read excerpts from his novels and short stories left me scratching my head and turning on the mute feature. His reading was monotonous and one-note with absolutely no voice inflection whatsoever. The bio's narrator Peter Coyote would have been much more effective, or Liev Schreiber or Adrien Brody, for example, who all have rich, masculine voices. If you could get past Daniel's bland reading, Hemingway's life history done by Ken Burns was well done, informative, and enlightening.

This is a supherb telling of a biography of Hemingway and done in the inimitable style of Ken Burns. It is well paced and presented in such a way that every minute of the 4 1/2 hours or so of the documentary is relevant, except for the talking heads.

Most of the talking heads had nothing to say that was not their opinions, and very often the opinions of people that did not know the person are essentially worthless. To see how a very good documentary can be made without a single talking head, one only need to watch the Apollo 11 documentary film!

If it wasn't for the talking heads I would have given this a 10. Lastly, why does pbs insist on inserting their promos mid screen every 15 or so minutes? It can only be to disrupt the viewers experience, it can have no other purpose!