I had the great fortune to meet Mr. Burns and talk with him at length about his baseball effort when he attended the Hot Springs (AR) Documentary Film Festival.
During that visit he stressed that all of his films, which he considers a continuous series, are intended to explain what makes us Americans. His intent is to weave a fabric of human traits that show how we are part part of the other nations that we come from but distinctly different. Thus very American subjects like baseball, jazz and OUR national parks. Of course I am still not happy that he ignored the first National Park-Hot Springs in his latest film.
The good news-bad news is that for the first time he is revisiting a film when he releases The 10th Inning this Fall. He feels that baseball has changed so much since the original release that he needed to add a couple of hours. I am afraid that will mean the strike and of course steroids.
During our visit I asked him about films on other sports and he said that he has no plans for any others. The next day he approached me and said he is still not sure where football fits and how it has influenced American life. He then said maybe in the future?
I guess what I am getting at in this post is that politics, race and sport all are all factors in how baseball has helped shape America.
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