Customer Reviews

Biography - Marco Polo [VHS]

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I found this a very informative summary of the life of Marco Polo. Everybody knows that Marco Polo was one of the first westerners to travel overland to China, but you're more likely to encounter myths than facts when you hear about Marco Polo today. This video biography tells Polo's story in broad strokes, highlights the controversies associated with the published account of his travels, and puts his historical legacy in some degree of focus.

Marco Polo was not the first westerner to travel to China; in fact, his own journey, at the age of 17, was undertaken in the company of his merchant father and uncle, who had been asked by Kublai Khan himself to return. It would take Marco and his compatriots three years to reach Xanadu, the exquisite home of Kublai Khan, but Marco quickly demonstrated his intelligence and found himself a special envoy of the Khan for the next two decades. When he finally returned to Venice, his family was robbed of the bulk of its accumulated wealth by the Genoese, and Marco himself was captured and imprisoned for one year. It was here that he began relating the story of his travels to his fellow prisoner, a writer of romances named Rustichello, who wrote down everything Marco told him. The book, best known as The Travels of Marco Polo, was a great success and, after Marco's release from prison, he became quite a celebrity. Most of his countrymen, though, believed his story to be fictitious, largely because they could not conceive of the magnificent scope, population, and wealth of the Chinese empire.

This video describes the paths traveled by Marco Polo to China and the unforgiving return trip via sea. It makes note of many of his recorded observations and shows how many have proved themselves to be quite accurate. It becomes easy to see how Europeans of the time might doubt the things he claimed as, from their perspective, they were quite fantastic. It also notes the degree of skepticism that remains in some quarters over the authenticity of Polo's story - certainly, the fact that a battle he claimed to have played an important part in actually took place three years before his arrival is rather indigestible food for thought, and the fact that there is no real written record other than his own that confirms his long service to Kublai Khan also deserves consideration. Polo was also, naturally enough, wrong in some of his observations and conclusions. All in all, though, the details provided by his exceptional memory enabled parts of his account to be verified, and there can be little doubt that he did indeed reach China in his travels.

It was also interesting to learn that Polo lived a quarter century after his return to Venice, raising a family and continuing in the family business until his death at age 67 in 1324. The video closes with a look at the historical importance of Polo's accomplishments, showing just how significant an impact Polo's story would eventually have on the developing world. It goes without saying that there are plenty of other sources that delve deeper into the complexity of this man's story and the breadth of information contained within his book; if you have a tendency to confuse Marco Polo with water polo, though, this video should prove most educational.

The video tries to develop the long discussion about the reality and accuracy of the Marco Polo adventure to China, but for that purpose would be better a different approach and a different offer to the public. This is not a biography about Marco Polo, no the history of the book or the analisys of why scholars dispute about the authenticity of the Marco Polo's book. The video tries to go in everithing of that and the result is a poor work about everithing. So, don't waste your money on this video. Would be better to buy some commented edition of the Marco Polo's book.