AMNA NAWAZ: Well, beginning on Sunday on PBS,# a six-part 12-hour series on the American## Revolution.

It's the latest from filmmaker# Ken Burns examining the earliest days of our## nation's democratic experiment.

And it comes# at a time of deep divisions in our country.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown# has a look for our series Art in Action,## exploring the intersection of art and# democracy and part of our Canvas coverage.

RICK ATKINSON, Writer:## A shot rings out.

No one knows where the shot# came from.

That leads to promiscuous shooting.

JEFFREY BROWN: April 19, 1775, the first# shots of the Revolutionary War.

Afterwards,## nothing would be the same# from then to our own time.

"The American Revolution," says Ken Burns,# is as important as any film he's made,## precisely because it is the founding moment,## the origin story of a nation still wrestling# with itself and the very idea of democracy.

KEN BURNS, Documentary Filmmaker: We# have tended to make the revolution## kind of sanitized and about men in# Philadelphia thinking great thoughts,## which is really important, but this# is a bloody revolution.

It's a bloody## civil war in which Americans are killing other# Americans because they don't agree with this.

And it's also a global war that's# superimposed on top of all of it.## And I think understanding the origin story# and understanding what the intention was## of the creation of the United States as# it morphed and as it changed as it went## along helps us today understand not only# where we are, but where we could be going.

JEFFREY BROWN: We joined Burns and co-director# Sarah Botstein recently at the Mount Vernon,## Virginia, home of George Washington,# one of a number of places around the## country they have been screening the film# for audiences ahead of its TV premiere.

And if you're looking for# complexities and contradictions,## start right here at the quarters# that housed Washington slaves.

I know you have this mantra, it's complicated.

KEN BURNS: Yes.

Nothing could be# more complicated than the person## most responsible for our country, the person# without whom this country doesn't exist.

JEFFREY BROWN: Right.

And# we're walking by the slaves.

KEN BURNS: Owning other human beings.

JEFFREY BROWN: It was a war of ideals.

NARRATOR: The American Revolution was the first## war ever fought proclaiming the# unalienable rights of all people.

JEFFREY BROWN: And land grabs.

MAN: They end up being kicked around# and moved .. of course, the story of Native# people relative to the United States.

JEFFREY BROWN: Of the highest virtues.

MAN: The sun never shined# on a cause of greater worth.

JEFFREY BROWN: And lowest venality.

MAN: Robert Morris was a war profiteer and mingled# public and private funds with unabashed abandon.

JEFFREY BROWN: And vital, says# Botstein, to see this as a civil war.

MAN: They were brothers.

One was in the British# and the other in the American service, totally## ignorant until that hour that they were engaged# in hostile combat against each other's life.

SARAH BOTSTEIN, Documentary Filmmaker:# We were breaking with ourselves.

We were## British subjects and British citizens.# We do understand I think collectively,## the American Revolution as this great war of# ideas and a beacon of freedom, democracy, all## the wonderful things we can celebrate about what# is so important about the American experiment.

But mothers lost their sons,# brothers fought against brothers,## communities were ripped apart.

It was a deadly,## terribly scary time.

And there was a kind# of radicalization and violence and terror.

JEFFREY BROWN: Ken Burns' trademarks# are on display, camera pans and music,## historians on major battles# and lesser known social issues.

KATHLEEN DUVAL, Historian: It was the job of# women to go in and take care of those bodies.

JEFFREY BROWN: Actors, including Morgan Freeman,## voicing the words of both celebrated# and everyday figures from the era.

MORGAN FREEMAN, Actor: Some consider us# as much property as a house or a ship.

JEFFREY BROWN: One strong emphasis, the often less## explored role of Native Americans# before and during the revolution.

NARRATOR: The American Revolution# was about to plunge the once united## six nations into a civil war of their own.

KEN BURNS: You can get an A in eighth grade or# 11th grade if you say taxes and representation,## but it's about Native American# land first and foremost.## You have these 13 colonies that are# superimposed over Native American land,## and there are Native Americans living with# Americans, sort of coexisting or assimilated.

And then you have to the west many# separate nations that are distinct## as France is from Prussia, and we had to# find a way to understand what that meant.

JEFFREY BROWN: Something new for the Burns# team, the extensive use of reenactments,## not faces, but bodies on the land# in battle living through the times.

Tell me about that, the decision to do# that and how you came to think about it.

SARAH BOTSTEIN: What we did mostly was spend# a lot of time with those reenactors without## our cameras and with our cameras# filming impressionistic things.

What does it look like when there's a bayonet# charge?

What is it like when the soldiers are## walking through the snow?

You can kind# of imagine the land that they walked on,## see the fields where they died.

And also,# creatively for us, we sort of turned our## editing room upside down in how much live# cinematography there is, how we use paintings.

We don't just use paintings and material from# the time.

We commissioned watercolors.

It's## really a lot of everything and how we as a country# thought and consider the revolution for 250 years.

JEFFREY BROWN: There are, of course,# a number of jarring moments for a## contemporary audience.

One hit# me was soldiers in a major city.

KEN BURNS: One unbelievable thing that# gets a response is when we show in our## first episode when General Gage orders a# fleet of ships from Halifax, Nova Scotia,## to come to Boston with almost 2,000 troops# to not protect it, but to police it.

And then you hear these voices from the# period talking about, what, a standing army?## This is a big, big deal.

And audiences erupt,# because, of course, right now, it resonates.

JEFFREY BROWN: Democracy itself, Burns says,## was not an object of the revolution.

It was# a consequence.

And the film comes out as## Americans are again or still divided over# its meaning and many fear for its future.

Burns insists his longstanding approach# to looking at history, as he puts it,## calling balls and strikes like# a baseball umpire, still holds.

KEN BURNS: If you superimpose some# philosophy of historiography or some## political bias that's attuned to today's# moment, you have made something that has## a half-life of a couple seconds.

But if# you're attendant to the narrative story,## you have something that has resonance# and you're talking to everybody.

JEFFREY BROWN: Doesn't it change# either your responsibility now or## the way you think about it# or what you want us to see?

KEN BURNS: No, because it's all built# in a story that's based on facts.

And## I think it will resonate with Americans of all# stripes because it's telling our origin story.

JEFFREY BROWN: You know, President Trump and# allies were saying that there's been too much## emphasis on the negative, as opposed to the# triumphs and the positives of this country.## Where does this film fit in or where do you fit# in now to this thinking about how we tell history?

KEN BURNS: You can't water it down.

It# is really complicated and you have to## tell that complication.

Everyone is# drawn to the stories that are real## and complicated.

And any idea of boiling it# down to simplistic slogans is not American.

SARAH BOTSTEIN: We have talked to so# many Americans who are really hungry## and interested for good history, good# stories.

And there is a lot to be proud## of and a lot to learn from our bruises and# scars and things we have not done well.

I have two children.

I want them# to learn history so that they can## make their future brighter and better# and learn the lessons from the past,## whether those lessons are inspirational,# instructive, depressing, dark or light.

JEFFREY BROWN: "The American Revolution"## begins airing this Sunday and# runs six consecutive nights.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey# Brown at Mount Vernon, Virginia.