New York: A Documentary Film is red hot

I was skimming channels on the television a while ago, which is a rare enough occurrence given the amount of excellent video available outside of a cable subscription and the shoddiness of the basic package I have (if I could figure out how to stream daily local and national news to my television I would probably have unsubscribed long ago), and found myself watching a bit about the Roaring 20s on the Knowledge Network. I got so engrossed by the story that I watched the whole thing, which ended up being about two hours, and ended with “To be continued…” — obviously it was a part of a much larger series.

Turns out it was an eight-part documentary called New York: A Documentary Film directed by Ric Burns, the less-famous brother of Ken Burns (who made those epic docs on the American Civil War and baseball). Originally seven episodes, an eighth was made after the September 11th attacks. I’ve managed to watch a good portion of them and though it occasionally drags and repeats itself, as anything that is fourteen hours long might, it’s a really detailed and wonderful exploration of the culture and mythology that has built up since the city of New York (then, New Amsterdam) was founded in 1625, told through interviews with historians, writers and other, more famous, talking heads. The first episode I especially enjoyed because of the broader sweep it encompasses, as the city moved from Dutch to British to American hands — the fact that the Bronx was basically the land of Jonas Bronck’s family (hence “The Bronck’s”) makes me sort of giddy, imagining how it was so utterly transformed from hinterland into hip hop’s birthplace.

I have an indifferent relationship to New York. I’ve only been once — visiting a grand-uncle in Chinatown and his family in Long Island — and barely remember anything except the interior of the brownstone in which he lived. Being from Toronto, multiculturalism and skyscrapers isn’t a huge attraction to me, and the fact that it was in relatively easy driving distance from my home made it seem somehow less interesting. With the constant demolition and rebuilding in New York, it doesn’t sound like it has the appeal of a real old-world city, or even a place like Montreal, with its religious roots. So I’ve never really felt the siren call from New York City like others have, and have passed aside numerous offers from friends there to visit. Even when I visited London in 2007, with all its history, it held much less charm than Paris, because of the amount of new building and change. I was left a little disappointed because of this — there was nothing really London about London. In the future, all cities will look the same. But this documentary did a great job of bringing the character of New York to life, making New York seem unique, and doing what the best documentaries do, which is planting a seed of interest that didn’t exist before. I might even visit someday.