American Experience: Panama Canal

We are fans of PBS so we may be a bit prejudiced. The film covered the major points of the Canal Project. With only 90 minutes to cover a 14-year project they did a good job on the history and some of the human cost. We are cruising the Canal this year, so this was a good start at learning how it was built. We are also reading David McCullough's book and Ms Greene's take on the human side of the project. We would recommend both books and the DVD to anyone interested in the Canal.

This an excellent documentary on the Panama Canal, covering the associated politics, planning, design, construction, and living conditions.Being an engineer myself, I would have liked more technical information on the design and construction, but what is provided is fine for a general audience.I would have also liked more information on the vessels the canal carries, how the vessel capacity was determined during the canal planning, and the positive and negative impacts that resulted from the completion of the canal.But overall, this documentary is still very much worth watching, given how amazing an achievement this project was.

McCullough was a little long winded butGood book on building Canal. More detailthan I needed.

We bought this video after we took a cruise through the Panama Canal. Our only regret was that we didn't see it BEFORE we traversed the canal. This documentary brings to life an amazing period in US history, and it highlights a fantastic accomplishment. Thousands of people lost their lives trying to build the canal, and others lost their wealth and their sanity. The building of the Panama Canal was a monumental feat, and one could rightly argue that it was foolhardy in the extreme and far, far too costly in terms of human life. Never-the-less, the account of its building makes for high drama. This documentary captures the tension, the heroics, the brashness, and the triumph of a singular AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

The "American Experience" production of the Panama Canal was up to the standards I have come to expect from this series. The story of the building of the canal is well told and factual. The details of the story are given with a personal touch which increases its interest.

Very interesting to see the actual pictures of them building the canal. I have read two books on it, but this put it more real. Our cruise through the canal this winter will mean more to me, knowing how it was built and all the men that worked soooo hard. You don't see men working that hard these days !

Of the 3 documentaries that I purchased for Fathers Day, I think this was the most interesting for me, I have seen it on PBS and I want my Dad to see it too. I didn't know much at all about the architecture and construction of the Panama Canal. The story of the workers is compelling and will make you appreciate more what we enjoy today because of what people of that generation were willing to sacrifice.

It was a very interesting film and was recommended to me because I am going on a cruise through the canal. It cannot cover the entire, complicated, political, and messy history of getting that thing built, but it was a good overview.

The canal construction was professionally documented . The role of the Roosevelt administration in the dark history of the interference of the US in the affairs of Columbia and the exploitation of Caribbean labour ( largely Barbadian) and the callous indifference in both matters is well documented. The successful engineering project will forever be tainted as another gross example of imperialistic excess by the USA on its way to the preeminent role in the twentieth century . Happily some justice was belatedly done with the return of the Canal Zone to Panama but Columbia will forever be truncated and the heirs of the Caribbean labourers have nothing to show for the exploitation of their ancestors but bitterness.

Very comprehensive and entertaining.