[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT REVIEW – TOM HANKS’ HISTORY OF THE US IS
ABSOLUTELY PACKED WITH BIG NAMES  
[[link removed]]


 

Lucy Mangan
June 24, 2026
The Guardian
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Mike Pence … the heavyweight
politicians stack up in this sincere biopic of the United States.
It’s so pointedly wholesome it’s like drinking a kale smoothie on
a wellness retreat _

Kamala Harris is among the many Democratic and Republican big hitters
interviewed in The American Experiment. , Photograph: Courtesy of
Netflix

 

The Netflix homepage describes The American Experiment to potential
viewers unwilling to read more than four words as “Sincere.
Informative. Documentary
[[link removed]] series”.
Well, my goodness, is it ever that, that and that! The five, hour-plus
episodes about the creation of the United States of America to mark
its 250th anniversary are as sincere and informative as you could
wish. Possibly, at times, too much so.

Ken Burns
[[link removed]]
fans can probably sit this one out. This is not a time for flair and
idiosyncrasy. This is a time for self-consciously milestone TV
executive produced by Tom Hanks that is so carefully bipartisan, so
cognisant of the stains on the country’s history, so balanced in
every conceivable way, that it feels like the televisual equivalent of
consuming a kale smoothie on a wellness retreat.

By the end of episode two you can feel that The American Experiment is
doing you mental and moral good. It must be. You haven’t been
bombarded with this many facts and potted histories of famous men nor
concentrated so long since you were at school. And if, as at school,
you occasionally find yourself numbed by boredom or exhausted –
well, that’s the price you have to pay for a respectable education.

We open in 1753, when 13 British colonies strung along the Eastern
Seaboard of the New World are beginning to wonder if being ruled from
afar by a monarch is all that great. From there, director Brian
Knappenberger moves at pace. By the end of the first two episodes we
have examined the whys and wherefores of the start of the war of
independence, courtesy of a mass of hyperarticulate, impassioned
specialists in every figure and fact. We have met a host of characters
(whose letters are voiced by actors commensurate with everyone’s
dignity, which makes it quite hard to know whether Martin Sheen has
been given the honour of being George Washington or the other way
round). We have seen copious protest and battle re-enactments (“No
taxation without representation!” chants in the former, sounds of
musket balls and cries of “Urgh” in the latter). Plus, the global
audience has had a chance to find out what some oh-so-familiar names
of people, tourist spots and phrases mean (General Dunwoody! Fort
Necessity! “The shot heard round the world!” That was the first
shot fired at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which sparked the
American revolutionary war. Don’t let JFK or Archduke Ferdinand trip
you up at the pub quiz).

[Soldiers in 18th-century redcoat uniforms firing guns]View image in
fullscreen
[[link removed]]
Events from the war of independence are re-enacted in The American
Experiment. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

We have also heard wider commentary on American ideals from some very
big names indeed. On the red side, there are Trump’s former VP Mike
Pence; Trump’s adversary turned fan, the Republican Texas senator
Ted Cruz; and his Kentucky counterpart, Rand “If you think you have
a right to healthcare you are saying basically that I am your slave”
Paul. Among the blue side are popular-vote winner Hillary Rodham
Clinton (as she is billed here), former VP Al Gore, the House speaker
Nancy Pelosi and near-president Kamala Harris. If you have noticed
that this is four Blue names to three Red, let me assure you that
Harris is no more help to the Democratic cause than she ever was.
“There is freedom _to_,” she intones, as if she is vouchsafing new
wisdom to us, “and freedom _from_.” It’s a difficult moment, all
right, but not for the reason she thinks. But there is more than
enough immaculate anatomising of politics and sociocultural mores
elsewhere to make you almost welcome this safe place to land your
brain for a moment.

The five-plus hours never fly by (unless you are a US history stan
already, which is smashing but this is designed to chat to the masses
not preach to the choir). But as they go on, it does dawn on you –
the time given to the horrors and hypocrisies of various chapters in
the American annals notwithstanding – that the founding fathers were
working in metaphorical and almost literal uncharted territory as they
imagined the best a country could be, conjured a constitution out of
nothing and built a unity among 13 states out of which would grow an
empire. And for most of the last 250 years, the place has generally
bent its moral arc towards justice. Bit of a kink in it now, mind. But
that’s a five-part series for another day.

 The American Experiment is on Netflix now.

* the american experiment
[[link removed]]
* NETFLIX
[[link removed]]
* united states of america
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]