Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Product Description
For six centuries, The Forbidden City has been at the heart of one of the most powerful and enigmatic countries on earth the biggest palace in the world and one of mankind's greatest historic and architectural icons. It is a bewildering maze of hidden secrets and unexpected legends, closed for hundreds of years to the outside world. Special access has now been granted so we can reveal the secrets about how and why the city was built and what extraordinary events and unimaginable horrors went on inside its walls. Using the latest archaeological and historic discoveries, combined with state of the art CGI and thrilling dramatic reconstructions, Secrets Of The Forbidden City tells the incredible story of the creation of Ming Emperor Yongle's palace, The Forbidden City, and how the despotic emperor clawed his way to power: betraying his own family and killing anyone who dared to stand in his path.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
This is an interesting disc (or discs - for some strange reason it is in two 45-minute episodes, each on its own DVD!) but not what I was hoping for. It's one of those documentaries that is all dramatic reconstructions and even more dramatic music scores (which is pretty much constant). You get to hear the story of how the Forbidden City was founded but don't actually get to see a lot of the city itself.
There are talking heads from various experts, but again their contributions are made out to be overly dramatic rather than simply interesting.
The Forbidden City is a fascinating place to visit and I was hoping for a cross between something that would evoke memories, but also show me the bits I couldn't see because of the crowds, or because they're closed off or still undergoing restoration.
Why people don't make documentaries like that anymore I'm not sure - surely audiences can sit still for an hour to hear an expert take you round somewhere.
I suspect there are documentaries like that somewhere on this topic, but this isn't it.
Other than the annoying dramatisations and music, the documentary is well-produced with good special effects that give you an idea of what China looked like hundreds of years ago, and the explanations of concubines and eunuchs are enlightening (although men will wince at the latter). If you want a more scholarly approach I recommend this book
City of Heavenly Tranquillity: Beijing in the History of China
If you're heading to Beijing with family, this might be a good primer for kids (because trust me, the Forbidden City is vast and without some of the story, I think kids might get a bit bored) or yourself. But it's not a souvenir.
There are talking heads from various experts, but again their contributions are made out to be overly dramatic rather than simply interesting.
The Forbidden City is a fascinating place to visit and I was hoping for a cross between something that would evoke memories, but also show me the bits I couldn't see because of the crowds, or because they're closed off or still undergoing restoration.
Why people don't make documentaries like that anymore I'm not sure - surely audiences can sit still for an hour to hear an expert take you round somewhere.
I suspect there are documentaries like that somewhere on this topic, but this isn't it.
Other than the annoying dramatisations and music, the documentary is well-produced with good special effects that give you an idea of what China looked like hundreds of years ago, and the explanations of concubines and eunuchs are enlightening (although men will wince at the latter). If you want a more scholarly approach I recommend this book
City of Heavenly Tranquillity: Beijing in the History of China
If you're heading to Beijing with family, this might be a good primer for kids (because trust me, the Forbidden City is vast and without some of the story, I think kids might get a bit bored) or yourself. But it's not a souvenir.
I really enjoyed this DVD. A good blend of docu-drama. Would strongly recommend for anyone interested in Chinese history. The DVD runs for just long enough to retain the viweres interest and is very well presented.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!
23 Sep 2008
Amazon should NEVER have listed this DVD. Amazon shows the format as NTSC; what it does not say, however, is the rating classsification is "E: Exempt From Classification." In other words, IT WON'T PLAY ON YOUR DVD PLAYER.
I got this from Caiman, which is great, and they have agreed to me returning this, but this never would have happened had Amazon gone to the simple precaution, like they do with PAL, of saying this is an E classification film.
Shame on you Amazon. Hurrah for Caiman for being nice in agreeing to the return.
I got this from Caiman, which is great, and they have agreed to me returning this, but this never would have happened had Amazon gone to the simple precaution, like they do with PAL, of saying this is an E classification film.
Shame on you Amazon. Hurrah for Caiman for being nice in agreeing to the return.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
