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First
screened in 1969, this landmark series is presented by distinguished
art historian Sir Kenneth Clark and is his personal view of
the ideas and values that shaped western civilisation. Touring
Europe, he traces developments in thoughts and culture from
the fall of the Roman Empire, through the Dark Ages and right
up to his present day...
Sir
Kenneth Clark doesn't attempt to give a complete record but
instead concentrates on crucial civilising episodes around
the world, predominantly in Europe. Against these historical
backgrounds he shows the viewer both the men who gave new
energy to civilisation, and expanded our understanding of
the world and ourselves by showcasing works of genius in architecture,
sculpture and painting, philosophy, poetry, music, science
and engineering.
Commissioned
by the then controller of the fledging BBC Two, Sir David
Attenborough, Civilisation achieved universal critical
acclaim and became a symbol for quality programming. The 13
part series won numerous awards including two BAFTAs, an RTS,
a Writers Guild, the Peabody and a New York Literary Award.
Unlike
The Ascent of Man,
which was released four years after this collection, Civilisation
doesn't seem to flow as well. This is mainly due to the fact
that Sir Kenneth Clark's presenting is a little wooden - unlike
Dr Jacob Bronowski's passionate lectures. This means that
the subject matter seems a little less interesting. It's a
little like the way that the subjects at school you seemed
to be more interested in happened to also be those lessons
in which you had the most interesting teacher.
It's
not that Sir Kenneth Clark is a bad presenter, just a little
unimaginative. Having said that, he never patronises the viewer
and he does talk knowledgeably about a subject which is close
to his heart.
Because, yet again, this was a collection I ended up taking
home to watch fully (we don't really have time here at Sci-Fi-Online
Towers to sit and watch a collection of this magnitude) I
ended up watching three or four episodes each evening - which
is not how this is supposed to be viewed. As a consequence
I was guilty of nodding off on more than a few occasions -
something I didn't do whilst watching The Ascent of Man.
The
end result is a fascinating, if heavy going, series which
will provide an interesting insight into the civilisations
gone by which have placed Western man where he is today.
Darren
Rea
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