Critic Reviews
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Over six hours, Burns, Novick, and regular writer Geoffrey C. Ward (a winner of five Emmys for Burns projects) don’t just offer a chronological biography of Hemingway, they dig into his strengths and weaknesses as a writer and human being. They are unafraid of tackling his abusive side and claims of misogyny and racism, resulting in as three-dimensional a portrait of a twentieth century icon as I’ve seen in a very long time.
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“Hemingway” is an engaging and beautifully constructed character study and proof that whatever Burns chooses to cover as a filmmaker will more than likely become the definitive documentary on that specific topic. In Hemingway’s case, it’s a story that is a lot more sensitive than one could’ve imagined.
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This is a must-watch experience for devotees who have devoured such classics as “A Farewell to Arms,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Sun Also Rises,” and it’s essential viewing for those only passingly familiar with Hemingway as a pop culture figure who might be motivated to sample his works after watching the series.
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Might not qualify as Hemingway-esque brevity, but proves fascinating nevertheless.
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The expansive, thoughtful “Hemingway” shows us the man in full, contrasting the person and the persona, the triumphs and vulnerabilities, to help us see an old story with new eyes.
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Hemingway never shirks from the writer's dark side--considering his ultimate fate, echoing his own father's suicide, how could it?--but the film also makes a strong and moving case for his enduring masterworks and their insight into human nature. [29 Mar - 11 Apr 2021, p.8]
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Hemingway seems to come down a certain way on whether his moral failings overshadow the beauty and exemplary quality of short stories like “The Snows Of Kilimanjaro” and novels such as The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell To Arms, but Burns and Novick also leave space for viewers to make their own decisions.
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It is easily gripping enough to hold the attention of devotees and refuseniks, and it covers all the ground.
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The myth is stripped away, the pedestal has the legs sawn off and Burns presents to us Hemingway the man, warts and all. Another great American monument, seen through Burns’s crystal clear eyes.
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PBS' Hemingway delivers the Ernest Hemingway people know, the Ernest Hemingway people think they know and the Ernest Hemingway captured in his private correspondence, in the recollections of others less invested in his hagiography, and in close literary analysis of his best and worst work. That's a lot of Hemingway. So is Hemingway too long? Yes. Does Hemingway have enough rewards to justify its length? Also yes.
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Burns and Novick face the opposite challenge: an excess of material. The evidence of the eventfulness of that life — its exteriority — is extensive, to say the least. Meeting that challenge, they demonstrate a fine eye for detail.
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“Hemingway” won’t do much to entice new fans of the author — certainly not enough for them to commit to six hours about his life. But if you’re a literary fan and have connected with any of the author’s works, you’ll find something that resonates.
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As we work to reconfigure our understanding of national literature and question the inclusion of numerous authors, one can’t help but wonder where Hemingway fits in, if he does at all. “Hemingway” presents a comprehensive view of the author, but still never addresses the question of why we should still read him in the first place.
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