Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great, True Tale of Adventure, 16 Mar 2003
Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton and his mate, John Hanning Speke's travels to find the source of the Nile, and travails to claim the rigth to say that either of these two gentlemen adventurers discovered the source of the Nile makes for one of the biggest and best EPIC adventure films in recent memory. The performances from Patrick Bergin (better known for PATRIOT GAMES and SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY), and Ian Glen (last seen on Broadway opposite Nicole Kidman in THE BLUE ROOM), turn in career-making perfomances as the two polar opposites who race to find the glory at the end of finding the source of the Nile. Bob Rafaelson, the man behind the camera, does not feel the need to spare the audience of any graphic details from the expeditions (including spearings, native sex, castrations, and ugly political maneuvering), and in the end, this is the best way to go since sparing us would have cheated us. Nor does he feel the need to spare us from any ticks in the characters themselves (Burton's blatant drinking and womanizing) and their questions (Is Speke gay? Who does end up with the bigger ego?). But the film's greatest achievements are:1 - It makes you understand why these two gentlemen lived the lives they lived. 2- It makes you want to read more about them. 3- It really does make you feel like you too, got to go to see the Mountains of The Moon.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, 9 May 2009
The movie starts with East Africa in 1854, when John Hanning Speke (Iain Glen) arrives looking for Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin). He brings more guns to help the expedition to the source of the Nile. They get attacked by slave traders and just manage to escape, badly injured. They return home to England and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) sponsor another expedition into the interior. Back in Africa, the caravan moves into the wild, with porters and askaris. They come upon lions trying to feed on slaves. At night some porters desert.
Men are hungry, diseased, some run away and smoke cannabis. Burton writes his journals. They come to an arab settlement. A lot of hardships and sufferings bring them to the Lake Tanganyika. They are captured by another tribe. Speke is allowed to go for a short safari. Speke finds another lake and names it Lake Victoria. Speke returns to England, while Burton stays on the coast of Africa due to bad legs. Speke dies in an shooting accident and Burton is posted to Brazil. The source of the Nile was confirmed 12 years later.
The costumes , safari scenes, lion scenes, african countryside and tribes are very well made. The movie was shot in Liverpool, England and in Kenya.
Read some books with similar theme:-
(1) Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile, by J H Speke (1865) 1969.
(2) Mountains of the Moon, by Patrick Synge (1937)
(3) A walk across Africa, From my Nile Journals, by James Grant (1864) 2007
(4) The Lake Regions of Central Africa, by Richard Burton (1860) 1995.
Having born in Kenya, I found this DVD interesting.
Watch and ENJOY.
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