42. On New York: A Documentary Film

New York: A Documentary Film (1999-2003; directed by Ric Burns) is an outstanding phenomenon in the genre of the television documentary. First of all, its total length of 17.5 hours, divided between eight episodes, guarantees that the selection of the essential topics from the history of New York City is not too violent, that all these topics are treated thoroughly and that the leftovers do not appear as tragic. Most TV documentaries are about what I already know and thus urge me to turn to literature to find a more detailed and systematic coverage. New York: A Documentary Film, on the other hand, provides a significant number of facts for those who want to create, bit by bit, their own history of that vibrant city. It does not merely demonstrate the facts related to its subject, as is often the case with overviews of history; it explains the less visible social, cultural and economic changes that have shaped the city's story, and it attemps to convey the atmosphere of the city. Emphasis has been put on the causes of the events, and the significance of these events in historical perspective is described in a way that does not outbalance the details. This equilibrium works well in that it gathers together all the signs that personify what New York City has been and is.

The biggest asset of this epic documentary is the deep love its makers have for its subject.

One of the interviewees states that there is no big novel about New York City as there are about London, Paris and Saint Petersburg. New York: A Documentary Film could be this missing "novel" – a rich, beautiful and emotionally captivating monument in honour of the greatest city in the world.

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Scenario:

• New York Conspiracy of 1741
• Battle of New York 1776
• Alexander Hamilton
• Washington Irving "Rip Van Winkle", "A History of New York"
• Dewitt Clinton and the Erie Canal
• The New York Herald
• P. T. Barnum and Barnum's American Museum
• Walt Whitman
• Panic of 1857
• Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the construction of Central Park
• Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech
• 1863 Draft Riots
• George Templeton Strong
• Fernando Wood
• Bethesda Terrace
• Cornelius Vanderbilt
• William M. Tweed & Tammany Hall
• Panic of 1873
• J. P. Morgan
• The construction of Brooklyn Bridge
• Lower East Side
• How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
• The Sidewalks of New York
• Consolidation of New York City, 1898
• The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus
• Al Smith
• Building of New York subway
• Shirtwaist strike of 1909 and Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911
• Hoovervilles in Central Park
• Jimmy Walker
• Fiorello La Guardia
• Robert Moses
• Harlem Riot of 1935
• 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
• Triborough Bridge
• Cross-Bronx Expressway
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
• Protests about the demolition of the Pennsylvania Station
• Philippe Petit
• Construction of the WTC towers

I created the scenario on the basis of the documentary in autumn 2010. I began the review in January 2011, but I never completed it. I edited the text in July 2015.