Look To ‘The West’ For Grand Real-Life Quests, Adventure

Documentarian Stephen Ives, with the participation of fellow documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (“The Civil War,” “Baseball”), commandingly takes us to “The West.”

And as delineated by Ives’ compelling, eight-part, 12-1/2-hour PBS series narrated by Peter Coyote and given voice by 56 other actors, the way West is an invigorating journey that seizes its subject with authority and sensitivity.

One is urged not to miss this glorious passage and extraordinary adventure. Smart, tight editing overseen by supervising editor Paul Barnes and a stirring and evocative score by Matthias Gohl animate and illuminate that unquiet horizon.

Accomplished via a telling use of personal stories and larger, more encompassing issues, this great undertaking brings the West alive. For instance, the series’ kickoff, “The People,” covers the 1500s to the early 1800s, studying the Europeans who came to this land as well as the original inhabitants of the West’s more than 2 million square miles - tribes such as the Zuni, who believed that beneath them was ” … a buried stone where beats the heart of the world.”

In this manner we are given multiple perspectives through which to view the making of the West - how the story of the frontier is one of expectation and disappointment and sometimes a confusing combination of the two.

Here Spanish conquistadors and missionaries went forth for gold and glory, and in doing so, visited cruelty on those encountered. And, too, we see how creation of the West was tied to Midwestern homesteaders and those from the East who came in hopes of finding gold. We also encounter those blacks who packed up and left the South, searching for a sanctuary beyond pain and grief.

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PROGRAM TIMES “The West” will air on KSPS-Channel 7 Sunday through Tuesday and Sept. 22-24 at 8 p.m.