TV REVIEW : A Flawed Look at ‘Americas’

The continuing Latinization of the United States makes a persuasive case for a sweeping series such as “Americas,” the new PBS 10-part documentary on present-day Latin America and the Caribbean. It premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28. (Part 2 airs Tuesday at 10 p.m.)

This in-depth look at the vast territory composed of 33 nations and more than half a billion people arrives at an opportune historical moment. Now that the muted and anticlimactic Columbus quincentenary is behind us, our understanding of this increasingly significant region could use an infusion of perceptive and intelligent analysis.

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In concept, “Americas” has all the necessary ingredients for a successful public television series. A decade in the making by talented and experienced producers and writers and backed by funding from the Annenberg/CPB Project with additional support from the Carnegie Corp., the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Corp. for Public Broadcasting, plus an academic advisory board made up of many of this country’s top Latin Americanists and with narration by actor Raul Julia, the series seemed destined to provide the insight such a subject deserves.

Unfortunately, what the viewer gets for all the time and trouble put into the project is plodding educational television. True, it does go beyond the tired cliches and tourist mentality of other similar endeavors, but it is also too reminiscent of the kind of programs we were forced to sit through in high school. And that may be no accident. Besides airing on PBS, the series was also designed as a 13-unit college credit course with print materials published by Oxford University Press and a 600-page history book from Pantheon written by “Americas” academic director, Peter Winn. While this is all very laudable, it doesn’t make for good television.

Every now and then, we do get a glimpse of what might have been an outstanding treatment of a fascinating subject. The first program, “The Garden of Forking Paths,” which focuses on Argentina’s sad history, uses some excellent archival footage to illustrate that far southern country’s grand beginnings.

In another program, devoted to the artists of the region, “Builders of Images,” we are introduced to the intriguing Jesusa Rodriguez, a Mexican performance artist who creates the unforgettable image of a walking, talking statue of the pre-Columbian goddess, Coatlicue.

Although many of the most engaging contemporary Latin American personalities are interviewed--ranging from Lula, the charismatic Brazilian labor leader, to Puerto Rican poet Luis Rafael Sanchez to Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari--the series has a flat quality that contradicts and undercuts its almost mythic material.

“Americas” needed what made Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” such a compelling series: a single, driving creative vision. Even Carlos Fuentes’ effort to cover somewhat similar ground, last year’s “The Buried Mirror,” was guided by one focused viewpoint conveyed through excellent writing and entertaining imagery.

What we have in “Americas” is a classic case of too many chefs in the kitchen. The series’ history by consensus lacks a vantage point.

Given the long spells between such large undertakings on our neighbors to the south, the series is a lost opportunity to teach North America some needed lessons about Latin American culture and history.

Parts 1 and 2 of “Americas” air Friday, 8 p.m., KPBS Channel 15.