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Details 'When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock and a Doomed Army' Filmed by Robert Matzen and Paladin Communications of Bethel Park and produced by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. 8 p.m. Wednesday; 6 p.m. Sunday. WQED-TV.

Filmmaker Robert Matzen says some "magic" led to his work on the new examination of the ill-fated final campaign of Gen. Edward Braddock.

"The way things began to fall together," he says, "I began to think someone on the other side might be stepping in to help."

He says that someone might have been Braddock himself, the leader of a failed effort to capture Fort Duquesne in a battle that was at the beginning of what he and other historians now call the first world war, the French and Indian War.

The battle is the focus of "When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock and a Doomed Army," a 55-minute film produced by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and made by Matzen and his Bethel Park firm, Paladin Communications.

The film will be aired on WQED-TV at 8 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Sunday. It also is being marketed as an educational tool for schools and being sold as a home video.

But, more importantly, "When the Forest Ran Red" is at the forefront of the War for Empire Consortium's effort to show the sometimes-overlooked significance of the French and Indian War.

The consortium is made up of museum curators and historians who bemoan the irreverent attitude toward that war. Members point out the French and Indian War is the New World's name for what is more respectfully known as the Seven Years War in Europe. That conflict, in its extension from the Americas to Asia, became a "world war," even if it didn't have the technological sweep of those events of the 20th century.

Andy Masich, president and chief executive officer of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, agrees with the observation that the French and Indian War is largely overlooked by Americans. That is generally because the War for Independence followed so shortly after and its results were just a little more significant for this country, he says.

Even more significant for this area, he points out, is the fact that the conflict started here. That can be directly traced to when American Indians serving with the 22-year-old George Washington killed and scalped a French envoy sent to inquire on the presence of militia on territory they claimed.

"But this is all going to change," Masich says. He predicts a shift in attitude will be connected to the work of the consortium and an exhibit planned for the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in 2004, the 250th anniversary of the start of the conflict.

That display is set for the Smithsonian Exhibit Gallery in the first floor of the center's five-story expansion. The French and Indian War display will cover an 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot area and will travel to other museums throughout North America and Europe.

"When the Forest Ran Red" features:

• Re-enactors who stage the drama of the battles, while blending current-day interviews at historic sites such as Jumonville Glen in Fayette County.
  
  
• 3-D animated maps that show troop movement and deployment in an effort to explain the reasons for Braddock's defeat.
  
  
• Filming in historic locations such as Fort Necessity, the campsite of the support arm of Braddock's force, and the sites of the general's defeat and burial.
  
  
• Historians such as Fred Anderson, the recipient of the 2001 Francis Parkman Prize for the book "Crucible of War," and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated R. David Edmunds offering their observations.
  
  
• Drawings and artwork from the 18th century, plus paintings of Robert Griffing of McCandless, the artist who has made images of this era a specialty.

Matzen says he became interested in the conflict about five or six years ago when he attended a meeting of a French and Indian War group at Jumonville Glen.

"I wanted to tell the story of people who did extraordinary things 200 years ago," he says. "It is the story of heroism and the foundation of patriotism that took place right in our own back yard."

As funding and interest grew - part of the "magic" he mentions - he decided his company could do the job. Putting together the film took a little more than a year.

Matzen hopes this film and the efforts by the consortium help to stir appreciation for the significance of the local battles and the ultimate war. Part of that desire, he says, is to help lift the reputation of Braddock, generally seen as a big loser.

"I like Gen. Braddock a lot," he says. "I kind of think of him as a crotchety old uncle."

Bob Karlovits can be reached at (412) 320-7852 or bkarlovits@tribweb.com.

Review: Strong story survives shortage of local emphasis

Telling the story of the defeat of Gen. Edward Braddock involves more than spinning a local yarn, filmmaker Robert Matzen says.

"I didn't want to make it too provincial by focusing much on local settings," he says of his "When the Forest Ran Red: Washington, Braddock and a Doomed Army." The sites are easy to see on the maps, he says, but he didn't want to seem like he was focusing only on this area.

Maybe Matzen was a little too shy in his depiction of the scope of these events, though. For instance, at the beginning of the film, narrator Michael Rothhaar says the war that resulted from this encounter "rocked two superpowers."

But it doesn't mention until nearly the end of the film how the French and Indian War here was the North American theater of the Seven Years War, a conflict that stretched to Asia.

Nor does the film mention until late the incredible cast of characters in Braddock's defeat: George Washington, Horatio Gates, Thomas Gage of Lexington and Concord notoriety, sharpshooter Daniel Morgan and Daniel Boone.

Maybe Matzen underplayed the most dramatic and significant sides of this tale, but he is a strong storyteller otherwise.

One of the most illustrative parts of the 55-minute film is his depiction of views of North America by the three groups in conflict: Britain, France and the American Indians.

"When the Forest Ran Red" tells the story of events leading to and following Braddock's defeat.

That begins in 1749, when the French establish a settlement at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in their interest of water routes to the interior of the continent.

In 1754, Virginia's Gov. Robert Dinwiddie sends the young George Washington to talk to the French about their presence on land he believes belongs to the British.

After American Indians serving with Washington kill the French envoy Joseph de Jumonville, his brother, Louis de Villiers, leads a force that defeats Washington at Fort Necessity.

The British send Braddock to America and, in 1755, he leads an expedition against Fort Duquesne. But he splits his army into two forces, and a smaller French force defeats him in a battle in which he is mortally wounded.

In 1758, British troops under Gen. John Forbes capture the Point and build their own larger site, Fort Pitt.

Matzen's film is a fast-moving look at the encounters. Richard K. Schutte, director of photography, has done a good job filming depictions of troop movement and military engagements.

Period music and a good blend of old and new art also create an ever-changing pallet for the story.

And, even if Matzen is a little timid in the local import of the story, "When the Forest Ran Red" gets its job done handily.

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