Another climb up Monticello

If television producers are looking for a popular figure around whom to base a new TV series for the fall, they might want to consider Thomas Jefferson.

This year is a renaissance time for America's third president, the author of the Declaration of Independence and the builder of Monticello. Several months ago, Ken Burns of "The Civil War" fame, aired his three-hour special, "Thomas Jefferson," on PBS.

Next came a best-selling book by Joseph J. Ellis, titled "American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson." On the way is a massive biography of the Virginian by David McCullough, who wrote "Truman."

Latest view

And if that's not enough, tune in to "Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain," a two-hour documentary airing on The History Channel on -- of course -- Independence Day (it will also be repeated on July 13).

Subtitled "A Documentary About Race, Slavery and the New Nation," this version of Jefferson's life story has a lot going for it. That's partly due to the main character; it's almost impossible not to produce something intriguing when you deal with someone who is innately so interesting for what he did, thought and wrote.

"Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain" owes a lot to Burns' documentary style. It has the sweeping vistas shot from helicopters, the lingering closeups of small items like locks and pens, the period music, the camerawork that probes into details of paintings, and the academic experts who offer their opinions.

It also has lots of quotations from TJ's letters, documents and essays, read by Edward Herrmann. (Other actors whose voices limn main characters in the story are Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover and Robert Prosky.) The quotations are judiciously chosen from the tens of thousands of words left behind by the prolific author, and they make their points succinctly.

Ultimate question

Like most other works, written and filmed, about Jefferson, this one ponders the ultimate question: How could the author of "All men are created equal" be the same man who kept hundreds of slaves on his plantation? Jefferson spent a lot of his public life trying to curtail or end slavery through persuasion and legislation -- and a lot of his private time buying and selling the people he owned.

Since we cannot unlock his mind and heart, there is, ultimately, no satisfactory answer to the question. But "A View from the Mountain" makes a very good attempt at reaching one, as it devotes most of its two hours to variations on the theme.

Put together compactly by producer, writer and host Martin Doblmeier (who has performed the same duties for many specials about religion), the documentary has only minor flaws, including some annoyingly jaunty music at the beginning that goes on far too long, detracting from the speakers and creating a sense of "let's hurry up and get out of here." Doblmeier even seems affected by it, rushing through his early narration.

But things soon settle down to a more leisurely pace, with ideas and images skillfully blended into a coherent presentation about Jefferson that shows him, once more, to be one of the most fascinating people in the history of civilization.

Catholics and Tom

It's a shame, by the way, that neither Burns nor Doblmeier scrutinized Jefferson's attitude toward Catholics, which could be just as confusing as his approach to slavery. He appreciated Catholicism enough that while he was ambassador to France, he placed his daughters in a convent school. But when one of them announced that she wanted to become a nun, he raced to the academy and yanked her out immediately.

Jefferson gave us the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and died 50 years later on the same day. This Fourth of July, you might want to do him the honor of watching his life story on The History Channel.

(07-03-97)

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