Hello /r/movies. We're Erik Ewers & Christopher Loren Ewers, the filmmakers behind the new PBS documentary HENRY DAVID THOREAU, produced by Ken Burns & Don Henley. Ask us anything.

Erik here. Like most people who have heard of him, I thought he was some nature hermit who lived at a pond...and that was really it. I had to do a high school paper on "Walden," and I remember I got a C-! It was only until we made this film did I put in any effort to get to know him, and understand his message. I didn't have the maturity back then as a student to relate to him. I certainly do now...especially with the crises we endure daily in this world. I think young people are much more positioned to understand him today, given that they too feel the "weight of the world" on their shoulders, unlike my life growing up.

Hi! Chris here. Not at all! I walked away from Thoreau in high school knowing him as a prophetic hermit who gave away most of his possessions and lived a solitary life. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Getting to know the real Henry has incredible relevance to our present moment.

Erik here. Some very important stuff about life!! The first that, despite our circumstances, there are choices we can still make about how we live our lives. Thoreau's entire life was spent in search of finding a life that brings him joy, purpose, and meaning...and once he found that (at Walden Pond) he took that with him. Walden was no longer a place, but a perspective. Without a doubt he lived life the way he wanted, to the disappointment of his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Another thing about Thoreau we can learn from is his constant pursuit of the truth. He put finding truth at the very top of his priorities in life; both factual truth and internal truth. He never stopped seeking it to the day he died. Our world is losing touch with truth—who do we believe, and will we take enough time to discover the truth? What is my truth? What is my happiness? Sense of purpose? Without truth, we can't really live with purpose... we are merely relying on gossip and social noise to direct us. Perhaps most importantly, we can learn from his profoundly deep discovery that we are actually a part of nature; we cannot be separated from it. It governs us as much as we govern it. We are made up of the same molecules. So why is our relationship with it so one-sided? If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. Just look at the times we are living in. I could go on and on about what he teaches us! He shows us how freedom in nature is the key to finding freedom in ourselves, and that nature and social justice are interconnected. There's an equality he writes about that surpasses our own understanding. He is a dense read, but he is worth it!

Hi. Chris here. Great question. Henry was practicing presence long before we knew about climate change or rallied behind movements like Black Lives Matter. He knew that to be acutely aware of your world and the things that make it up was essential to appreciating the value of a human life and the natural world. In an age of distraction, it's all too easy to sleep walk through our lives and allow ourselves and these important ideas to be diminished. Henry reminds us to wake up! Not just environmentally or politically, but personally and pay close attention to the things that really matter.

Erik here. Oh... he wasn't "roughing it!" Acknowledge that criticism!! But follow up with the fact that "roughing it" was NEVER his intent. He discovered the healing powers of nature after his brother died suddenly, as nature was the original place he and his brother shared while playing and exploring together from their childhood to their young adult years. After his brother John's death, he wrote that he could actually feel his presence in the winter woods, which was a great source of comfort to him. When Thoreau decided to famously relocate to Walden Pond and "live" there, he was going there to first and foremost find a place to reconnect with his late brother, sit in solitude, and write a book about their recent adventures while boating up the Concord and Merrimack Rivers to see the White Mountains of New Hampshire—a tribute to John. He also went to Walden Pond as a young, "twenty-something" who didn't know what to do with his life (like so many of us). His writing career was stagnant, he disliked the obligations of society, the politics of our country, and the environmental degradation that was happening in and around his beloved hometown of Concord, MA. So he relocated to be able to gain perspective about himself and how/where he fits in society. He left town so he could criticize society, and as he contemplated the difference between there and his modest cabin, he made regular trips home and downtown to observe, to listen, and yes, to have a hot meal and bring home his laundry. So what!!! Who wouldn't?? I did in college! I believe most people haven't done their homework on Thoreau, and if you did, you would find a man who undoubtedly has flaws (again, who doesn't?), but one who never stopped seeking the truth about how he could live a life freely, with purpose, and with happiness. If we want to criticize him, or anyone else for that matter, make sure you seek the truth about the person first, and don't just jump on some social bandwagon and seek to diminish them. Thoreau wrote about that too!

Erik here. Yes we should. Read "Slavery in Massachusetts" as well!

Chris here. 100%! And I'd recommend "Walking" as well.

Erik here. In some ways it is the same. For our film, we are storytellers and not historians. Chris and I are in no way, shape or form academics!! Far from it ;-). If we were writing a book, or making the film, we start with a "prolog" or summary statement about defining the essence of our film. For us, the film starts with a scene on the power of words in history. How words can start movements, wars, or create peace. And we introduce Thoreau as one of those powerful voices who can speak to us today, centuries later. We then have our "introduction," which is a scene that attempts to define what we want to say about Thoreau, his society then, our society now, and ourselves. this scene is the "table of contents" for the film, so viewers can understand how we will bring you through the story. Then the body of his story is straightforward: He's born, he grows up, he lives and learns, he writes, and he dies—leaving his legacy behind through his writings. Chronology is key. Our goal was to allow our viewers to "grow up" with him and learn about life as he does, as he experiences it. It may be slow to start in our film, because he is slow to learn as well. But as Thoreau has one revelation after another, so does our viewer, which offers our viewers to grow themselves in their own respective lives. The big difference is that a book can only have the dialog. We have living dialog through a narrator (George Clooney), first person voices (Jeff Goldblum as Thoreau, Ted Danson as Emerson, Meryl Streep as Margaret Fuller, and other voices, and Tate Donovan as Channing), and then ample historical and present-day context from 25+ writers, experts and scholars. On top of that, we have a visual story in the form of old photos, modern day nature footage, hand-written documents, paintings, etc. And then on top of that, sound effects which literally make the images come alive. All of these components, along with an emotionally provocative musical score transport us back in time, and make him real again.

Erik here. I am a little biased of course! I've worked with him for almost 37 years... First of all, Ken is a true intellectual genius. I have watched him in action in SO many environments both in and outside of film. His knowledge is so impressive. He is certainly a historian, but if he were sitting here, I imagine he would prefer "storyteller." Two of his famous "Ken-isms" I love: 1. "History has the word 'story' in it." and 2. "History is the story of human emotion." Part of what makes Ken and his film's so successful is that he seeks to highlight the emotion behind history. To make historical figures well known and completely unknown speak to you emotionally, allowing you to relate to the universal experience of life. In Ken's arena, the "life" he focuses on is the American experience. To me, I wept watching the Civil War back in 1990, and I knew then as much as I know now that he single-handedly redefined the documentary genre. He used old photos and documents, moving within them to reveal minute details that speak so loudly to the story. He taught me a film formula that isn't just how to make a Ken Burns film, but how to make a film with integrity and accuracy, with the focus on storytelling and not historical documentation. He's at the top of the heap for me, but that doesn't mean that his is the only style or way to make a great film. There are many greats, past and present. But he brought the genre to life in a way it never had been. For me.

Erik here. Ha! I saw a woman at our premiere who had Thoreau's portrait beautifully tattooed on her arm! It's only a matter of time before a tattoo related to him shows up on my skin!! I would say the quotes that resonate with me most are: 1. "What I began by reading I must finish by acting." 2. The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it." 3. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." (SO true). 4. 5. Thoreau's last words: "Now comes good sailing." READ THOREAU'S "DEATH OF A PINE TREE." So sad and beautiful.

Hi. Chris here. I've always been partial to "Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

Chris here. I may be talking out of school but I've heard murmurs of a narrative feature on the Transcendentalists...

Chris here. I think Erik touched on a bunch of what I would have, but I want to add that we all have unique circumstances in our lives, regardless of when we lived or how. To diminish the *results* of his experiment and how they have since impacted millions of people all over the world because he didn't have children or was critical of our collective desperation etc. misses the point. At the end of Walden Thoreau implores us to find our own Walden, not to follow his lead.

Erik here. First of all, Thoreau and his family struggled financially for a long time... hardly what I would call privileged. His parents had to move to live with family in order to afford putting him through college. Only later in life did his family move up to a "middle class" life, after working hard to create superior pencils in the family manufacturing business. The experiment he undertook living at Walden was less brought on by privilege and more brought on by despair. His writing "career" was non-existent; he quit being a school teacher because to do so he had to strike misbehaving students, to which he refused. He saw a society of people living "lives of quiet desperation," and he could not see himself a part of that. His brother and best friend died, and the nature he had come to love in Concord was being systematically destroyed, and slavery, while banished in the North, was being perpetuated by the North for raw materials and industry. And the Massachusetts State Government ratified a federal law allowing southern plantation owners to come North, find their escaped "property" and take them back to become slaves once again. Thoreau wanted to make choices how he could define and live his own life, to live without surplus, material possessions, and with only as much money as he needed to be able to live the way he wanted...simply and deliberately. In that pursuit, he found his own joy. When he lived with Emerson, who was wealthy compared to his family, he hated the privilege. Thoreau is a true self-made man who had loving friends and family who truly supported his own, unique path to find a life that made sense for him.

Erik here. There were many, each of which with their own unique scholarly perspective on Thoreau, and others who were just enthusiastic readers or experts on commercialism/economics, politics, philosophy, religion/spirituality, feminism, Indigenous culture, environmentalism, etc. Feel free to look them up, individually, most have them have published materials on Thoreau: Larry Buell, Bob Gross, Kristen Case, Kerri Greenidge, Cristin Ellis, James Finley, Robin Wall Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Robert Thorson, John Kucich, Elise Lemiere, Henrik Otterberg, Rebecca Gould, Beth Witherell, Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Bill McKibben, Clinton Bembry, Clay Jenkinson, Sandra Petrulionus, Rebecca Solnit, Laura Dassow Walls (biographer), James Francis, Lois Brown, Rochelle Johnson, and Michael Pollan. Also... last but not least... Don Henley, Kathi Anderson and the people at walden.org. Check it out!!

Chris here. You're not kidding! And I believe the same could be said for every generation in between his and ours. During any period of unrest-the great depression, the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement and on and on-Henry's words and his actions resonate. He reminds us not only that disagreement isn't a threat to democracy, silence is, but also the importance of the natural world to us all when the things of man fall short.

Erik here. Isn't it? Mark Twain once said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly "rhymes." Thoreau knew we would be in the situations we are in today. It's up to us to change it. As he so eloquently stated, "What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

Hahaha...!! I wish it was my brother who looks like Phillip (but I know it's me...) LOL

Hahahaha

Erik here. "Death of a Pine Tree." Not exactly one of his poems...I'm not a big fan of his actual poetry, but that story is so heartfelt, so sad, but so beautiful at the same time.

Chris here. He wasn't the greatest poet! But in terms of essays I'm partial to Civil Disobedience.

Erik here. I think what was most surprising to me was how multi-faceted he was in life. He was a writer, pencil-maker, land surveyor, handyman, philosopher, lecturer, school teacher, nanny, adventurer, abolitionist, socialite as well as an eccentric outsider, and a scientist! I was blown away by the fact that Henry is credited as the father of ecology—that he literally created this new area of science—after he was able to solve a mystery about the evolution of plants that even Charles Darwin couldn't figure out!

Erik here. THE most asked question of Thoreau. He did take his laundry home, but who washed it is 100% entirely unknown. It was very common to have people do laundry for the family, and not necessarily his mother. the point I want to make is... who cares? What college age kid does not bring his laundry home? Thoreau was in his late 20's then. The other IMPORTANT point to make is that whether mom did it or not has zero to do with why he relocated to Walden Pond to live there. Among other things, he was undertaking a social experiment: to live in the quiet, contemplative, freedom of nature in order to figure out who he wanted to be, and what he wanted out of life. He separated himself from society so that he could better understand what society was all about, and how he could find his place in it. In order to do that, we spent time at Walden, and then time at home and about town, as his experiences in BOTH places better informed him. It is a full blown MYTH that he was trying to be some nature hermit who left society altogether. He was trying to figure himself out. What 20-something year old isn't trying to do that? This was Thoreau's own, individual experiment that worked, informing him on how to approach his future. He is not saying to his readers to do what he did either. He says at the end of Walden that you should seek your own experiment to find your true self. Be inspired by me, but to live a meaningful and contented life, you have to question yourself. Find your truth. The people who bring up the laundry thing clearly have not sought the truth, or taken the time to read him. He's being diminished by the very people he is trying to help. Thoreau would've called them out for sure.

Erik here. Great question. I will say I am certainly not an expert on the subject. I am about to present the film next Friday at the Harvard Divinity School, as a special guest of their new Transcendentalist curriculum! There's one way—to bring it to the forefront of education. For me, we asked so many scholars to define transcendentalism, and every single one of them found it hard to answer! In Thoreau's time, there was Emerson and his book, "Nature," which earned him the title of the Father of Transcendentalism. But what we discovered making the film is that Thoreau took Emerson's views on the subject and ran with it in the way he thought it best worked for him—ultimately to Emerson's disappointment. After much thought, I see Transcendentalism as a spark of divinity in each and every one of us; whether it be religious or not, and it allows us to understand that there are higher laws of living life that extend far beyond religious, educational or political doctrine; that we are obliged to follow that higher calling, and by doing so, it provides a life filled with morality, appreciation, and peace. I can now see how nature is so closely connected with it. I can see how Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity can all connect with it. I can see how that spark can make you a kind and compassionate person to all. Hahaha... like the scholars, I get lost in it myself. I hope it evolves in the hearts and minds of viewers, if at the very least a curiosity worth exploring to see how it can affect your life in wonderful ways.

Erik here. TV? Wow...Thoreau would be captivated by it, probably astonished beyond his wildest imaginations. And then he would worry about it taking us away from the "real world!" That it is merely a visual and audible representation of something you can go and see, touch, taste, feel and experience in person! He always contemplated technology. He hated how the new inventions of his time—the train, the telegraph, and the printing press was speeding up time and changing our understanding of distance... yet he rode the train 70+ times, and loved reading the newspaper. As far as the current administration. To stay non-political to whatever degree possible, Thoreau would not approve our political situation the same as he didn't approve his own almost 200 years ago. There are many parallels between his day and ours, and he would say that sadly, little has changed. Political immorality is nothing new, and it has applied to both parties. Same with corruption. Violations of equal rights, civil liberties, and justice. When I watch the scene in the film about the "Fugitive Slave Act," I can only think of ICE and immigrants today. It's different, but it's also very similar. Thoreau teaches us about the power of one citizen, standing up to one's understanding of morality and decency over laws enacted by the government. To stand up against unjust laws is as patriotic as can possible be.

Chris here. I'll touch on the last part of your question: was HDT happy? From my perspective, he lived about as honest a life as any human being could have, so yes, I believe he was very happy. For anyone to live according to their own morals and standards, especially when those things are not popular, is to me a clear sign of conviction. He lived intentionally and with as little distraction from what he thought important as possible. So I think he was quite fulfilled.

Erik here. At the risk of my answer being political, I think he would be furious at the government abusing its powers over the people, and furious at how most Americans have done nothing about it. Complacency was something Thoreau certainly did not believe it. A scholar point out in the film that the word "Crisis" back in his time was defined by a dire situation where a decision had to be made. He then say that "Crisis" is defined today by how much a person can avoid the situation, as long as it doesn't affect their quality of life. Look away. Thoreau was a guy who angrily called out the state of Massachusetts—its leaders AND its citizens—for allowing the Fugitive Slave Act to be passed in a state where slavery was illegal...yet they ratified this law allowing slave owners in the South to come North to Boston and find their escaped "property," and take them back to enslavement. Many of these escaped slaves had lived free in Boston for many years, contributing to society. Thoreau held the ignorant and complacent in contempt. I think he would scream "Wake up!" on the social, political and environmental front.

Chris here. I think he'd be most critical of how much of our lives we've given away to technology, distraction and complacency. He'd ask each of us why we weren't enacting more and better change in the world.

Erik here. In high school, and I hated him. I was bored stiff reading Walden. I didn't get it at all. I got a C- on my paper because it wasn't worth the time to try to figure him out, or let his writing soak in. In retrospect, I realize I didn't have the maturity that adults with some life experience had back then. My parents would've related to him, but I had nothing to worry about back in the 1980s. I think young people today have SO much more burdens in life on their shoulders, they have so much more life experience now that I think if Thoreau is taught the right way—using the film, or at least identifying those things in his time that are so relatable today, that people of all ages can benefit by his philosophies within his writing. He has 100% changed my life. A great introduction to Thoreau: read "Walking." The other I really liked was his book, "Cape Cod," which tells the story of his 25 mile walk up the elbow of the Cape on the ocean shore. It starts with the aftermath a shipwreck, and on that ship was his friend and colleague, the famous writer Margaret Fuller.

Erik here. Chris and I have different stories. In short, I saw Ken's Civil War series in college, and it was that moment I knew what I wanted to do... 37 years ago. I called my Dad, a civil war buff, and told him my intent, and he casually replied: "Call your aunt and uncle. They live next door to the director." Unbelievable luck. I got an internship, graduated University of MA on a Sunday, and started the very next morning at 9am. I've worked on most of his single and multi-episodic film series as an editor. Ken helped cultivate a "side" business with my brother and I in 2010, telling me "as long as you don't quit your day-job" as his editor. Chris and I have co-directed 3 films with him for PBS, two of which he served as executive producer. It was clearly meant to be from the very start for me!

Chris here. If I were to give you a complete list of my favorite historical docs we'd be here a long time. I would say that "Man on Wire" is perhaps my favorite of all time. "The Act of Killing" is an incredibly powerful doc that takes a very different approach to history.

I can only quote writer and historian David McCullough from our film: *"I often think about where you could put a lens down on the map of the United States, and take what you would get in that lens to reflect the substance, and the cast of characters, and the importance of, and the nature of the history of our country. Concord, Massachusetts is, to me, a good choice. You not only have the start of the Revolution with the Battles of Concord and Lexington; but you have the creative residences and workplaces of people like Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau. How these clusters of brilliant people can emerge, and flourish, and change how we view the world is one of the mysteries of history."*

Erik here. What started out a little rocky, has turned into a beautiful working relationship with him. We have learned to trust each other's wisdom, and, unlike in family situations, when we disagree we don't get angry about it anymore. Filmmaking is a true collaboration. We both have our own lanes of expertise; Chris with business aspects, administration, and especially cinematography and other visuals, and me with story, editing and sound design. We rarely interfere with each other's expertise because we know that the other will consider suggestions, but will ultimately want to do what's best for the film, and not ourselves. When working with family of any kind, ego has to be left outside. There is no such thing as being right in creativity, so we work together to make the best film possible.

Chris here. It's great. We've figured out how to cut out a lot of the bullshit that comes both with being family and with business!

yes i imagine so .. i remember some years ago henley was trying to buy some land or all the land around walden pond to preserve it from development or something .. was a pretty big deal at the time if i recall .. seems like he's been a huge advocate for years

Erik here. It is indeed THE Don Henley! There are articles out there about his involvement, but in short he helped to prevent an office park and I believe condominiums from being developed on the land surrounding Walden Pond, back in the late 1980s. To do so, he started an organization called the Walden Woods Project (WWP), and their website, [www.walden.org](http://www.walden.org), is about all things Thoreau! An extremely valuable resource. Why did he? He was an English Major in college, and as he tells the story, Thoreau's words spoke to him at a time when the needed it the most. Thoreau is like an old, trusted friend to him. Without Don—and the WWP—this film would never have happened.

Erik here. I personally have always LOVED Peter Coyote—still do—but we went with George Clooney!