Ken Burns on Balancing Fact and Fiction in Documentary Film

There are times when the needs of your story can outweigh a strict adherence to literal facts. This threshold is different for every documentary as it depends on a variety of factors, such as subject matter, the period, and the subjects involved. Each filmmaker will have to decide for themselves how far to stretch their poetic license.

Ken shares an example from his film Huey Long, in which the eponymous character is described as being surrounded with bodyguards. In the photographs, however, they looked like regular men in business suits. To serve the larger truth that Huey, at this time, was becoming ‘increasingly dictatorial and autocratic,’ Ken sought a visually equivalent image, and settled upon a photo of Huey surrounded by National Guardsmen. While not factually accurate (the Guardsmen were not Huey’s bodyguards), the photo was more emotionally resonant with Huey’s changing state of mind.

To keep his fact and fiction balanced, Ken Burns uses a blend of archival and newsreel footage, documents, photographs, and subject interviews to source information for his films. However, the issue with truth in historical documentaries is that witness accounts can sometimes be unreliable. Memories fade over time, and certain details may be lost or changed unknowingly. When balancing fact and fiction in documentary film, an important area to mind is when subject accounts contradict the factualities of the time. Your task as a non-fiction filmmaker is to ‘trust but verify’: to authentically represent the different emotional experiences of the human subjects in your film, while also staying loyal to factual records.

Truth itself is subjective, as it is defined by a person’s experiences and shaped by their perspective, which means there are various “truths” that can exist regarding the same event or moment. Objective truth may be impossible, but there is a greater truth of human emotion that Ken strives to enliven for audiences. He sees truth telling as a process akin to emotional archaeology, trying to unearth the experiences of individuals that have been buried by history.

Documentary filmmaking can sometimes involve complex matters, and even more complicated human subjects. Ken believes these areas should not be shied away from—in fact, they should be embraced. When balancing factual with emotional truth in your film, stay true to the complicated and contradictory nature of history, and don’t hide the flaws of your heroes or the human side of your villains. Every side of the “truth” should be explored, regardless of the filmmakers personal feelings about the situation. This can be an uncomfortable experience for some, as it may require empathy with people you fundamentally disagree with—or worse, reveal unsavory traits about beloved past figures.

If the facts are in doubt, err on the conservative side with your truth claims. At the same time, embrace the manipulation that is necessary and inherent to the process of storytelling. In the end, filmmaking requires an act of faith that a larger truth has been represented, even if every last detail can’t be verified.

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