« Good Podcasts (3/10/08 - 3/14/08) | Main | My Heart Rocks »

March 19, 2008

Movies I Suggest While Having Very Little To Say: Simon Schama's Power of Art

Ok, not so much a movie as a TV-show, but powerful and perfect nonetheless...Simon Schama navigates through eight pivotal lightning strikes of artists and events that would, not to put too fine a point on it, change the world.



Full of epic, almost cataclysmic, pronouncements, Schama's hushed narration borders on overblown, overbearing hyperbole...but whereas if you were to read such sweeping sentiments on the human condition on a gallery wall you might roll your eyes, here, in the context of each artist's life and times, it seems perfectly fitting. So much so that anything less would do a grave disservice to the "rush of life" these men tore out of themselves.

I'm also drawn to this series by the similarities between it and David Attenbourough's "Life On Earth." Both Attenbourough and Schama view their subjects with an urgent, almost spiritual passion...for Attenbourough's Earth, you blink and it is gone...for Schama's human achievements, you blink and you are gone. Both are beautiful, and must be watched.

Clampants | March 19, 2008 09:20 PM