My hopes were dashed almost from the outset. The documentary is filled with factual errors. I saw at least 2-3 photographs taken for the Standard Oil project–an altogether different project following the RA/FSA/OWI, presented as FSA images.

The music is innane. No, I didn’t expect to hear Woody Guthrie’s “Dustbowl Refugee” accompany Arthur Rothstein’s photographs of a dust storm in the Texas Panhandle, but after a while the soundtrack for “Documenting the Face…” reminded me of the electro-pop drivel heard on “How It’s Made” on Discovery.

I came away feeling that the directors and researchers don’t know their material. Far too much was made of Marion Post Wolcott’s being a “woman” photographer. No mention whatsoever was made of John Vachon, one of the truly great photographers of the FSA project, and almost none was made of Jack Delano. There were occasional glimpses of Vachon, but the only ones I saw were taken many years after the project ended. Also excluded were Carl Mydans, and Theo Jung. And Russell Lee, while mentioned, gets very little coverage despite truly being the backbone of the project.

On a lone positive note, I would say the inclusion of William Christenberry was quite good. His description of Walker Evans’s approach when he returned to Alabama many years after his work with James Agee, was excellent. But that is it.

I found the show really missed the point on so many levels. A huge waste of potential, time and money. Really pathetic. PBS should know better.

Miguel