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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but a bit misleading in spots, November 2, 2004
This review is from: Egypt's Golden Empire (DVD)
This is one of the better Egyptian documentaries, if only because it has a (relatively) narrow topic: the New Kingdom. Many Egyptian documentaries simply cover the famous monuments and people of 3,000+ years; in effect, saying very little and bombarding the market with redundant shows. However, despite its focus on just the New Kingdom, it does treat the topic very broadly. The New Kingdom was an extremely long and complex period in Egyptian history; as a result, this documentary focuses on a small number of people and does not give a sweeping overview of the entire period.
There are slight narrative problems with this program. I will highlight one as an example. In part III, which is primarily about Ramses II, the narrative jumps from the death of Tutankhamen to the ascension of Ramses II, presenting a misleading chronology in which it appears that Ramses II actually followed on Tutankhamen. This is hardly the case - four kings came between them (Ay, Horemheb, Ramses I, and Sety I). At the very beginning of Part III, the interviewed scholars focus on "Ramses", by which they mean Ramses II. They speak of his non-royal background, and though it is true that Ramses' family was non-royal, it was Ramses' grandfather (Ramses I) who actually initiated the dynasty. By the time Ramses II came to the throne, his father (Sety I) and grandfather had already reigned, so he wasn't quite the non-royal usurper that the DVD seems to imply. This is not the fault of the scholars being interviewed - they are all legitimate and well known Egyptologists - but rather of the editing, which tends to conflate a number of kings into one person, making it seem as though Ramses II began the 19th dynasty directly after Tutankhamen, and completely omitting the last two kings of the 18th dynasty, Ay and Horemheb.
This is one of the more noticeable of the misleading issues in the two-hour program, and I cite it as an illustration of the fact that you cannot view these programs as 100% foolproof academia - much is being omitted from history for the sake of convenience and entertainment value.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well produced, interesting documentary, January 21, 2004
This review is from: Egypt's Golden Empire (DVD)
The "Empires" series on PBS has has several great episodes. This is among the better ones. Egypt's history spans thousands of years, and to make a reasonably-lengthed DVD (and to fit in with the general parameters of the series) this one simply covers the New Kingdom -- a brilliant moment in Egypt's long and glorious history. So while we don't see anything about the pyramids (already a thousand years old by the New Kingdom), we do see some of the most interesting (and popular) characters who lead Egypt at its peak of power... Thutmosis, Hatchepsut, Akhnaten, Rameses II. Nice touches like the inclusion of correspondence bewteen Egyptians and foreign leaders and discussion about the life of commoners helps round things out. All in all, visually interesting, great fun, and lots of good info make this a great documentary. Highly recommended, but those drawn to Egypt by the pyramids or, say, Cleopatra should look into other DVDs. And I should point out to a previous reviewer that "corn" doesn't just refer to the yellow vegetable we all know and love... the word has long been used to refer to any generic food crop, similar to the word "grain."
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great documentary, February 21, 2005
This review is from: Egypt's Golden Empire (DVD)
In preparation for my upcoming trip to Egypt, I rented thirteen different films about ancient and modern Egypt. This particular entry, from PBS, was my favorite. It was informative, well-produced, and did a great job of covering the sweep of New Kingdom history.
Of all the videos and DVDs I watched, this was the highest quality, and probably the only one I would want to purchase for my own collection.
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