This series glosses over Hemingway as writer or a person with any real depth or feelings. It uses all the usual Ken Burns visual cliches, especially snapshots of EH looking straight-on at the camera. I lost count of how many there were just in the first episode. I've read many books by and on EH and feel very close to him on many levels. His childhood and his time in Paris are so superficially glossed over, it's unbelievable. Picasso was a painter so here's one of his paintings. Here's Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in their interesting salon. Here's some nice Satie music on the soundtrack for atmosphere. Here's a picture of Ezra Pound and another of James Joyce. Surely you've heard of them. Never mind what they all saw in EH's writing. You want to know something about Sherwood Anderson? Well, you can look him up on Wikipedia. Mostly we want to talk about EH's legend, especially his relationships with women.
Ken Burns, you are the Thomas Kincade of TV documentaries.
Ken Burns, you are the Thomas Kincade of TV documentaries.