chaswe-28402
This tale's uniquely distinctive feature is its vivid portrayal of the life and environment of the natives and other tribes inhabiting, or trading in, central Africa during the 19th century.The film was shot by Roger Deakins, who has been nominated thirteen times for an Academy Award for his cinematography, and amazingly has never won. He must be the greatest living exponent of his art. He also had unusual early experience of filming African landscapes.This treatment of the story of Burton and Speke, and their search for the source of the Nile river, has left several viewers, including me, avidly wanting to know more about their relationship, whether Speke committed suicide in 1864, and the fundamental reasons for their apparent falling out. On balance, Burton is presented here as the wronged party, but other factual accounts seem to me to tend to favour Speke, because of Burton's difficult and eccentric personality. His wife, Isabel, was exceptionally devoted, and she is played here by Fiona Shaw, who resembles her strongly in appearance.There is little doubt that Burton was the more remarkable human being of the two, but the question remains open, and it appears that the credit for actually first establishing the source of the Nile must go to Speke. It was ultimately firmly confirmed by Stanley.There is a conflict between Speke's obsessive Victorian imperialism, and Burton's equally obsessive but more academic interest in the world's varieties of communication and ethnicity. Speke names his lake Victoria, but Burton names his lake Tanganyika. A fine film, but the actual facts are worth checking, even if they resolve nothing.
grantss
Interesting docu-drama. Tells the story of the expedition of Captain Richard Burton and Lt John Hanning Speke to find the source of the Nile river, in the 1850s. Tells of their trials and tribulations, and what happened once they returned to England.For the most part, the movie is a boys-own story of action and adventure, of close escapes from mortal danger, and surviving. However, Disney this is not (and thankfully so). The action scenes are quite gritty and graphically violent, which give it a great sense of realism.Settings and cinematography are great, as you would hope for a exploration-adventure movie.Last few scenes are quite moving too.
AMar_rom
The British Empire owed a lot to opportunistic soldiers of fortune as well as to explorers: men who risked their lives (and the lives of others) for profit, fame and the recognition from their peers for their accomplishments. In the last category one could think of men like Livingstone, Stanley, Scott and Burton. Captain Richard Francis Burton (whose life we follow in this film) risked a lot for the sake of discovery (to find the source of the Nile) but at the same time he was also a man with a genuine interest and outmost respect for the indigenous peoples and cultures found deep in Africa.In the film we see Burton joining forces with a young and ambitious Lieutenant (Lt. Speke) to travel again to his beloved Africa to locate the source of Nile with an expedition funded by the Royal Geographical Society. The film is an account of this trip but shows also events before and after this. Watching this movie we can grasp the differences between the two men, their strong ties and friendship during their common effort in the expedition and also later how each one coped with their success at home (London).The Mountains of the Moon is a fascinating film. It tells a great story without romanticizing the situations during and after the trip to Africa. Burton, Speke and their comrades endured too much to find the source of Nile, and all of them for their own reasons. The novel by William Harrison (that this movie is based on) does not fall into the trap of trying to imitate Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' but gives us a different perspective altogether. Do not miss this film.
Dave from Ottawa
This is an unusual historical film in that it focuses as much on the personal histories of the men involved (Sir Richard Burton and Lt. Speke), before and after their expedition, as it does on the momentous work they had undertaken, specifically the search for the source of the Nile. Along the way, they explored and mapped much of previously uncharted Africa while enduring disease, bad weather and desertions and thievery by their superstitious and unreliable porters.Great wide screen cinematography gives us lushly gorgeous vistas of Victorian-era Africa - convincingly unspoiled by modernity - while the close-ups show the intimate details of the journey in all of their hardship and horror. The result is a sweeping, yet personal adventure and a memorable viewing experience.
AD
