The Reviewer Delves into The American Future

Looking for a thought provoking documentary on American history that is more unconventional in scope, than check out Simon Schama: The American Future.
British/American historian Simon Schama (who gave us the magnificent History of Britain) presents an intriguing look at where America is today and its possible direction by conjuring up its past, all through the backdrop of the historic 2008 presidential campaign. This, in all honesty, more left leaning look at American history is broken up into 4 segments that cover;
1)American Plenty: which covers the scarcity of precious resources as seen through the drought that has effected the water level of the Colorado River as well as how precious water is becoming. It was troubling to see the diminishing Colorado and what could become bleak times for the Southwest.
2) American War: One of the better segments of the series that focuses on the Civil War, Spanish American War while touching on WWII, Vietnam and the current Iraq War and how with Mark Twain, the anti-war movement was born and still flourishes today. I particularly liked how Schama essentially breaks Americans into 2 camps when it comes to war politics by singling out 2 of our Founding Fathers...Thomas Jefferson (who was against a professional army and Alexander Hamilton (who was all for it).
3) American Fervour: depicting the role of religion in America's history from the emancipation of slaves to Civil Rights, to conservative evangelical Christians. It was powerful but also disturbing to go over Jefferson's words of freedom and religion but to also hear of the slaves he kept that were denied those same freedoms Equally troubling but also uplifting is hearing the stories of little known Civil Rights activist Fanny Lou Hamer and her struggles and how religion was a great comfort to her, in her darkest times.
4) What is an American? This was to me the best segment which covers the bitterness certain Americans feel over immigration, primarily focusing on Mexican and Chinese immigrants and their trials and tribulations. It is hard not to feel effected by seeing the history of the hatred towards the Chinese and how Mexicans have been viewed since we annexed Texas. I was uplifted by the story of Grace Abbott, a woman ahead of her time who did so much to bolster immigration reform. However, the fact that Schama failed to mention that all immigrants have always been looked on with disdain when they first arrive disappointed me.

That is not to say this is a bash America only documentary. There are wonderful segments of average Americans and especially seeing the 2008 election virtually recreated and how Americans were moved to vote in droves was a wonderful reminder of how great this country is. I especially enjoyed a tribute to a Latino American veteran of WWII. However, if you are looking for a pure flag waving-America has never done anything wrong-historical documentary this will not be for you. However, if you can be objective, by tapping into what is great about America as well as the dark deeds of our past, Simon Schama, (albeit in an abbreviated way and not showing enough of other good things that Americans have done in our history) provides an unemotional, sobering look at where we have been and where we are going as a nation. In the words of Grace Abbott on what it means to be an American: "We are many nationalities -- we should not be ashamed of this ; if all races can live together we can meet the true American opportunity." I give the American Future 4 out of 5 stars and is currently available on DVD.