Ken Burns on Benjamin Franklin; space is the place – The Boston Globe

As seen in part one, Join or Die (1706-1774) (debuts April 4 at 8 p.m. on GBH 2, YouTube TV, PBS.org, and GBH.org), Franklin was born in Boston and absconded from there as a youth to escape the bondage of his brother, to whom he was indentured as a printer. He arrived penniless in Philadelphia; and like a forerunner of todays social media moguls found a fortune there in a burgeoning new industry print, including the printing of currency, foreshadowing his appearance on the $100 bill. It made him a famous, wealthy, and wise man.

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In his spare time, Franklin pursued scientific research into electricity (Burns clarifies some myths about the kite and lightning experiment) and invented the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, the uncanny musical instrument the glass armonica, and other invaluable devices. His scientific endeavors, one historian ventures, might well have earned him a Nobel Prize, had there been one at the time.

But it was in some ways a tainted fortune. The advertisements in his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette included notices for the sale of enslaved people and postings of rewards for runaway slaves (the narration points out the irony of Franklin profiting on such trade, given that he was once a runaway indentured person himself). And Franklin owned slaves. This contradiction between his image as a champion of freedom and the reality of a businessman who profited from those who were deprived of freedom shadows the documentary and comes to a head in part two, An American (1775-1790) (April 5 at 8 p.m. on GBH 2, YouTube TV, PBS.org, and GBH.org).

There are other conflicts explored as well. As a representative of the colonies in London in the lead-up to the Revolution, he was torn between his loyalty to Britain, where he enjoyed star status and relationships with such Enlightenment giants as Adam Smith and David Hume, and his growing awareness that the Colonies had outgrown the empire and needed to unite into a nation of their own. He ultimately came down on the side of independence, which brought this conflict close to home. It opened a rift with his son, William, the colonial governor of New Jersey and who during the war led a militant band of Tories. The two never reconciled.

Though Burns has not progressed stylistically beyond the trademark documentary conventions that first brought him success, he has grown more subtle and insightful in his analysis of what America means and what it means to be an American. His film about Franklin celebrates his subject but is no hagiography. Instead it probes into such timely issues as the nature of patriotism, freedom, family, and personal responsibility.

Go to http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benjamin-franklin.

Watch this space

The recent documentary Last Exit: Space by Rudolph Herzog expresses skepticism about the privatization of space exploration. One expert opines that life on a corporate moon or Mars colony would be like living in an Amazon redemption center, poorly paid toil under conditions regulated by an exploitative, profiteering, and all-powerful company. There, according to the voice-over narration by the filmmakers father, Werner Herzog, one would hunker down in radiation-proof bunkers enjoying drinks of recycled urine.

In Return to Space, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin who won an Oscar for best documentary feature for Free Solo (2018) take a more positive attitude. A look at the development of multibillionaire Elon Musks SpaceX program and his project to be the first private company to put people into space and ultimately expand humanity beyond Earth, the film doesnt dwell on the speculated conditions of such habitations. Instead it looks at what it took to achieve the first crewed rocket launched from US soil since the end of the space shuttle, in 2011. Earth is the cradle of humanity, says Musk, explaining his motives. But you cannot stay in the cradle forever.

Vasarhelyi and Chin flash back to the first failed attempts by SpaceX, beginning in 2006, to get its Falcon rocket off the ground. The repeated images of exploding vehicles are spectacular and oddly satisfying. After the third failure the company almost folded, but Musk and SpaceX persevered. The next attempt succeeded. By 2020 they were ready to launch two NASA astronauts into orbit for an eventual link-up with the International Space Station.

The film focuses on this mission, spending time with the astronauts and their families (one is married to another astronaut with several NASA missions to her credit) and profiling the engineers and other experts who labor to make it possible. Musk himself comes off as stalwart, determined to help elevate humanity to this next evolutionary stage while perhaps padding his estimated $267 billion fortune. At one point the filmmakers question the motives of Musk and fellow space-minded capitalist titans like Amazons Jeff Bezos, presenting a montage that concludes Perhaps space travel today is all about money and egos. Maybe it always was; and like the Western frontier before it, the final frontier might become just one more pristine wilderness to be exploited and despoiled.

Return to Space can be streamed on Netflix beginning April 7. Go to http://www.netflix.com.

Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.

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Ken Burns on Benjamin Franklin; space is the place - The Boston Globe