A Passion for the Past in PBS’ Spectacular ‘Legacy’

The television screen, every inch, is occupied by humanity as pilgrims by the millions, some wearing little or no clothing, prepare to bathe at dawn in the sacred waters of the Ganges River. With music and flowers, this “greatest gathering of people ever seen on earth� is taking part in the religious festival of the Kumbha Mela at Allahabad in India, following a tradition of 2,500 years.

A man with long hair, his nude body and beard as unnaturally white as if smeared by alabaster, stands so still he could be mistaken for a statue. Then the statue moves, pulled by a comrade toward the river. Everyone moves toward the river.

You watch this astounding scene, transfixed by its spiritual aura.

“Legacy� is a stunning spectacle, a new PBS documentary series that, as the above example affirms, explores great civilizations through a confluence of music, pictures and ideas. In many ways it is the equal of that recent landmark, “The Civil War.�

Producer-director Peter Spry-Leverton and infectiously passionate host-writer Michael Wood top the credit list for “Legacy,� which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15, and at 7 p.m. on KVCR Channel 24.

Whereas filmmaker Ken Burns’ epic feat was to make the static images of the 19th Century come alive, principally through the use of ancient archives and old photographs, the British-shaped “Legacy� presents the histories of Iraq, India, China, Egypt, Central America and Europe largely by showing their impact on the present.

And it does so strikingly, bathing itself in beauty and intelligence the way the pious Hindus bathe in the Mother Ganges.

Although the photography alone is as breathtaking as anything you will ever see on television, however, “Legacy� is infinitely more than a coffee table picture book. In fact, these monographs were designed as individual programs to be aired separately. And they should have been. Driven by an “event� programming mentality dictated by the success of “The Civil War,� however, PBS is unwisely presenting “Legacy� in twosomes, coupling Iraq and India the first night, China and Egypt the second and Central America and Europe the third.

Not only are two consecutive hours a heavy slab of viewing, but each of these civilizations deserves a separate evening instead of being tailored to a dubious programming strategy that commands that they be run together.

On Sunday, the eloquent Wood and “Legacy� command your attention with a captivating portfolio on Iraq, where the written word and mathematic principles originated. The footage was shot seven months before Saddam Hussein began the drum roll leading to the 1991 Persian Gulf War by ordering his army into Kuwait. Thus, much of what you see in the cities and other urban areas in this cradle of civilization may no longer even exist, as allied bombs took a heavy toll.

As Wood notes, however, the links between Iraq’s past and present are as enduring as the barren desert.

The ensuing hour on India is dazzling. Yet it’s difficult elevating some highlights of “Legacy� over others. Particularly poignant, however, is the hour on Central America, where cultures rooted in the core of humanity are now swamped by what Wood calls “the consumer culture from the north,� making the people of Central America “strangers in their own land.�

Wood’s enthusiasm for antiquity and the sometimes mysterious old ways complements his scholarliness, giving “Legacy� a sort of timelessness. Seeking counsel from a Mayan holy man about the ravaging of the environment, he’s told: “If we make an enemy of the earth, we make an enemy of our own body.�

Each generation tends to think of the “now� as a seminal moment in history. In finding and tracing the connecting threads of civilizations, however, “Legacy� teaches that the present is but a barely discernible speck on the landscape of time. It’s a valuable lesson in humility that puts the 1990s in perspective.

On Sunday, Wood walks through the home of Nehru, finally crouching beside a table upon which sits a worn book of religious readings that the great Indian leader kept at his side from childhood to old age. “So perhaps it is still true at the end of the 20th Century,� Wood says, “true for nations as well as people, that we may know our ends from our beginnings.�