Ken Burns has his next 14-hour epic documentary, "The War," ready to air on PBS. He hopes it will eventually become the definitive record of the World War II experience once it airs in September.
But Burns didn't count on hearing vocally from several Latino leaders and military veterans who argue his film fails to consider the Latino experience in the war. They're demanding the filmmaker reopen work on his film, perhaps even, they suggest, adding two hours to the running length to give their story the time it deserves.
Burns, and in turn PBS, would like to appease the groups without editing the film. The series focuses on the war experiences of people from four American communities in Connecticut, Alabama, California and Minnesota.
"We did not set out to exclude Latinos," Burns told the Associated Press. "In fact, thousands of stories have not been included. We set out to explore the human experience of war and combat based on a handful of stories told by individuals in only four American towns."
Although that may keep Burns from reaching his goal of creating the "definitive record" of World War II - since clearly the film leaves important stories untold - he shouldn't modify his vision to appease a group that wasn't included in the documentary.
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a former newspaper reporter, has many good arguments to make.
Rivas-Rodriguez, who runs an oral history project about Latino World War II veterans at the University of Texas, has become the film's most outspoken opponent. And her stories, of Medal of Honor winners denied service in Texas restaurants when they returned from the war and of migrant workers recruited for the war effort only to be later deported when not needed, are wrenching and deserve to be told.
But she belies the validity of her own arguments when she refuses to have the Latino World War II story told in a film of its own. A separate film, she told the AP, would be of little appeal, because few beyond those directly involved would care.
Ken Burns is a documentarian. He documents what he sees, and in this case he set out to document the stories of World War II veterans from four American cities. His finished film accomplishes that, and he shouldn't change it to counter protests.
Meanwhile, Rivas-Rodriguez and her group Defend The Honor have their own mission. The stories they've unearthed deserve to be told and they should tell them. Instead of rallying against Burns' documentary and PBS' efforts to air it unmodified, they should be at work documenting these stories for films and books on the subject that may be produced later.
Instead they're demanding a documentary film series tell every story about the war, which couldn't be accomplished in a film 10 times as long.
Once a filmmaker modifies his film to stop a protest, we won't be able to watch a documentary without wondering if a politically motivated group had a hand in directing the film's vision.
If Burns modifies "The War" to include the stories of Latino soldiers, he'll appease this group of protesters - but the precedent will never be undone.
And the documentary landscape won't ever be the same.
Write to Jonathan at jonathansanders@justice.com
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