Customer Reviews

Michael Palin - Sahara

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Sahara" is a travelogue made for the BBC in 2001. Michael Palin and a camera crew traveled around the Sahara Desert and recorded their experiences. This resulted in four one-hour episodes that were shown on TV, and are now available on DVD.

The trip started at Gibraltar and went all the way around, and sometimes into, the Sahara Desert, through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria again, Ceuta, and back to Gibraltar. Some of these countries are huge, for example, Algeria is four times the size of France or three times the size of Texas. The Sahara Desert is roughly the same size as the United States, and the trip covered 10,000 miles and took three months.

The Sahara Desert is so close to well-known Europe (just on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea) and is yet almost totally unknown to most of us in the West. In "Sahara" this veil of ignorance is lifted.

All of the Michael Palin travelogue programs feature his wit and charm and exuberance, and "Sahara" is no exception. It was a very impressive trip, with many special Palin-style encounters with interesting people. And, of course, beautiful pictures from the desert and the picturesque ancient cities like Fez and Timbuktu.

Still, I'm giving only four stars to "Sahara" instead of the five stars I've given to most of the other Michael Palin travelogue programs.

My reduced enthusiasm for "Sahara" is related to the fact that most of the countries he visited this time are ones that represent many problems. Heat, drought, poverty, begging, sickness, cultures in decline, refusal to accept the modern world, political instability, even barbaric traditions (female circumcision).

These are not countries that I feel much desire to visit myself, and this reduces my interest in the program. It is occasionally evident that Michael Palin was not all that happy with things himself, and this is also a negative factor.

Another negative factor is that the trip is presented in a somewhat disjoint manner at times. The trip was simply too much for the time allotted, so parts are skipped and we jump from one place to another. (The associated book does a much better job of covering the entire trip.)

I also felt that some of the things included in the program were very special and not really representative of the area, for example the Paris - Dakar rally, the British WW II veterans' reunion in Libya and the flash-backs to the filming of "Life of Brian" in Tunisia.

The DVD version of this program is on two discs. In addition to the four one-hour episodes there is the following extra material:
- Interview with Michael Palin (16 min.) - very good
- Deleted scenes (30 min.) - very good, some very funny bits
- Video diary (25 min.) - not so interesting

As Michael Palin says himself, "With the wonders of DVD we can show you and bore you rigid with things that didn't actually make the final cut."

Conclusion: Not as good as the best of the Michael Palin travelogues, but still very good.

Rennie Petersen

Compared to his Himalaya this is closer to the "old Palin" that I remember. Gritty to a degree, honest and fascinating narrative accompanied with beautiful footage makes this an amazing must see. Mr Palin's charisma comes thru to cut thru any national barriers and unite the people of this world in another fine adventure. A must have in any travellers collection!!
We just need ALL of his journeys in DVD, THEN we would all be happy :)

Tragically, it is not easy to get access to BBC shows in the USA. There are some truly great series, for example all the travel series done by Michael Palin (some more amazing than others, but all very good). You might recognize him from his days as a star in Monty Python or from the film "A Fish Called Wanda." Part of what makes him a great travel series host is that he retains his humor while exploring extremely fascinating parts of the globe. His series are very balanced, informative, and entertaining all at the same time.

The most refreshing thing about his series is that they are not presented as "look at all these great touristic places I have been," but rather the camera is more of a silent witness to his adventures. It really just follows him as he sets out to do his carefully researched itineraries ("Around the World in 80 Days," "Pole to Pole," "Full Circle," "Sahara," "Himalaya") or themes ("Hemingway Adventure," "Palin's New Europe"). His style is both objective and subjective. Whilst retaining a journalistic like objectivity he also lets you know how he subjectively feels about the places he visits and about how he personally feels in regards to his personal health both physically and psychologically: he shares his apprehensions, feelings of triumph or defeat, relief or disparity, amazement and disappointments, mourning or elation or even neutrality, sickness and homesickness or feelings of health; in other words, his style is to bring the richness of a written travelogue to film. You get the feeling that you are watching his diary; for example, when he does his post trip/editing room voice-overs and other commentary, he adds his comments from it.
You see him get altitude sickness in the Himalayas ("Himalaya"), and you see him participate in a bizarre yet hilarious crossing-the-international-date-line ritual performed by the ship crew on his way from Japan to the USA (in "Around the World in 80 Days.") Moreover, the trips have quite large budgets so there really is no limit to what kind of itinerary he can dream up. In "Around the World in 80 Days" he set out to literally circumnavigate the globe, but not just in a ship, he uses any means of ground transportation he can find, which includes joining ship barges. The one stipulation is no air transportation. In other series his itineraries are equally as grand: in "Full Circle" he makes a trip around the Pacific Rim and has the unique privilege of hiring a helicopter to see some difficult to get to parts of far eastern Russia and after, true to Palin style, learns Russian drinking songs from the pilot while drinking vodka with him; in "Pole to Pole" he takes the only commercial plane that flies from South America to the South Pole, a ticket that is prohibitively expensive for your average traveller.

It was very easy for me to get addicted to Michael Palin's series and I had the fortune of living in China where bootlegs of anything are easy to come by when I did. In the USA, his shows are difficult to come by. I know that the complete box set of all the series he has done so far (he has at least one or two more left in him) is sold at a bargain price in the UK. But for people living in the USA who cannot stand the fact that those DVDs are (probably) regioned to the effect that they will not even work on our DVD players here even when legitimately purchased and imported to the USA, perhaps the best alternative is to turn to the internet (cough, torrents, cough).

FYI The BBC shop in the UK sells a 16 disc box set with all his travel series he has ever done for 40 pounds (about 80 dollars). It is so outrageous that DVDs are region coded so that they can price discriminate against the American audience.

After watching his various other adventures, such as his "Around the World in 80 days" and "Himalaya", I kind of knew what to expect from this outing. Thankfully, I was not disappointed, and was eager for more!

His journey begins in Gibraltar, in the more 'familiar' setting of an island with a lot of British heritage, before he heads south to Morocco. After seeing some of the most amazing sites in the various cities there - including an ancient cloth dying area, with huge vats of dye - he moves on through the Atlas mountains to the south. They briefly stop at a Berber village, and witness a traditional Berber wedding ceremony, which is different in character to those we would expect in a (majority) Muslim country.

One of the most remarkable places he stops on this leg of the journey, is a refugee camp literally in the middle of the desert. The people are refugees by virtue of them wanting to remain free, and not part of the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The camp is more like a village, but the nearest good drinking water is over 50 miles away!

After that he travels to Mauritania, and then travels towards Senegal "first class" on a 2km long iron-ore train. The cabin consists of some cramped quarters where people can lie down and look out of a hole ("window") for the journey. Other passengers do not fare so well, and lay out a mat on top of the iron ore, sitting on that for the 6+hr long journey through the blazing sun.

Once in Senegal, it looks like being in France - the reflections of colonialism are intense. One of the most amazing things about this whole journey, is how Michael manages to get by using his abilities in French - everyone seems to understand it, regardless of the country!

Continuing his journey, the next stop is Mali, where he visits some of the most amazing people - the Dogon. Rather than become Muslim back in the vestiges of time, they decided to exile themselves and live in their own small community in the desert mountains. An interesting fact disclosed here is that they practise female circumcision, even though clearly not Muslim, and it infact has been a tradition for many centuries and even predates the coming of Islam to the area. They have one of the most intriguing theologies about life that I have ever heard, however!

Some of the most amazing architecture I have ever seen was there in Timbuktu - bringing new meaning to the term "mud hut" - or in this case "mud mosque".

The best part for me though, was when he ended up joining a group of cameleers and walking through the Sahara desert with them. A "camel train" of 24 camels accompanied him and his handful of men to travel through the Sahara. The way that they managed to keep going through such a heat, and the fact that Michael was still wearing his "British" shirt and pants was something that astounded me, as they walked over huge sand dunes without seeing any life for days.

After leaving the desert he comes back to Algeria, and travels through a wasteland of wrecked cars and sand. It is a very eerie place, and shows just how inhospotable the desert can actually be. Some of the most amazing landscapes are seen in this section, with many shots of the Hoggar Mountains and other places.

He visits Libya and Tunisia before heading back to Gibraltar. One of the most charming visits with locals he makes is when he visits some cave-dwelling people. The government is trying to move them out to "proper houses", but they still prefer living underground! Warm in winter and cool in summer apparently!

All in all a great documentary of the variety of lives touched by the desert - quite a change from the stereotype that most of us have when thinking of the Sahara as a wasteland with no life.

I had the great priviledge to see Michael Palin's Sahara on the (real)BBC in Oxford (England) in 2002 with an Algerian friend. Unfortunately the BBC showed the production in the wee small hours ---but staying up all night was well worth loosding a little sleep. (Now, having recently purchased the DVD, I've had another grand experience with Michael as my guide.)

We were greatly pleased to see that Palin chose to go into Algeria, despite the dire warnings about the dangerous conditions (due to the great unrest and genocide occuring at that particular time) because it is truly a beautiful country-land of contrasts! We enjoyed taking a trek through the Ahaggar region (Palin refers to it in English as the Hoggar), hearing that, despite what is said in the press, the Sahroui refugees were not kept in Tindouf against their will and were treated well by the Algerian government, and the mini-stroll through the Casbah in center Alger (Algiers in English) was a delight-if too brief. Oran (pronounced 'Waahran'-say it slowly and do pronunce the 'h'!) has an enviable spot on the beautiful hilly coastline above the even more beautiful Mediterranean. We were delighted to hear the journalist who accompanied Palin in the Casbah say-typically Algerian-'inch'Allah'with reference to a possible future event. We were sorry that Michael did not venture a little south of Alger to visit Algeria's vast array of Roman ruins, and isntead chose Libya for this. Bravo to Michael for showing the rest of the world at least a glimpse of our beloved Algeria. Be cooled by the oasis outside Hassi Messaoud -a breath of fresh air!

The funniest statement of the film was when Palin alluded to the "longest bus ride" he'd ever taken when going accross the falt and palid Libyan desert.

The journey Palin took with the touaregs is spectacular. Myriads of camels, a ton of dunes and sand, and the comraderie of the berbers of the desert. Be sure to look for the baby dorcas gazelle!

From England to Gibralter (where the Barbary baboons hobnob with the gentry) thorugh the vast and breathtaking Sahara (of which Alogeria calims mmore than a lions-or is that camel's?-share, with glimpses of all the countries which share this most wonderful of all deserts. Meet the inahabitants along the way. You will have a wonderful surprise, and perhaps learn that people are people no matter where they call home.

As Palin says, "See what is similar, not what is different" of these people.

Enjoy your journey in this enchanted place!

Michael Palin on his whirlwind trip through eight African countries is a blast! (literally for Mr. Palin when he stood too close to a flintlock rifle and suffered a slight injury) These DVD's are entertaining, informative, historical, exciting, educational, and memorable. At one point you feel you are on a camel trek across the desert with him. He uses every imaginable transportation in these four episodes that could so easily have been expanded to 6 episodes. He practically lives off camel and goat during the entire trip. These include Roman ruins, oil fields, cities, armed guards in Algiers and it was an eye opener to discover that the U.S. isn't the only country with immigration problems.
Illegal immigrants try to cross from the African continent to Gibraltar and many lives are lost in the attempt. Please watch the special features for additional footage and Mr. Palin's interview on disc 2.

As someone who is working with African refugees, I found this video absolutely fascinating. He visits very non-Western settings frequently and these are the most interesting parts. Easy to watch and totally engrossing.

Once again the superb ex-Monty Python turned globetrotting national British icon Michael Palin invites us all to join him on his journeys around the world. This time the destination is the biggest desert in the world, the Sahara, and its surrounding countries.
As usual the witty and insightful narration of Mr. Palin, as well as his encounters with local people and ex-pats from around the world makes for an interesting and inspiring series about this very inhospitable yet beautiful and little understood place. If nothing else, the series gives food for thought about how people live their lives in other parts of the world. At least it did for me.

I will admit that "Sahara" is not the best of Michael Palins travels. There is a quality or feel about it that just doesn't really make you feel the same elation you normally would, watching Palins programmes. This is not to say that "Sahara" is bad television. By no means. Not being the best doesn't mean that it's bad. Perhaps it has to do with the sameness of the places he travels to in this series. There is little but sand, which maybe in some way makes it less fascinating. I don't know.

As usual with the Palin travel DVDs there are a plethora of extra material in the form of clips that didn't make the final cut. a video diary, and of course an interview with Michael Palin.

Not the best, but still very, very good. Highly recommended.

I just finished watching all four episodes of this travelogue. I like Michael Palin and have seen at least one other travelogue and enjoyed it, but this one just doesn't deliver.

It starts slowly. I expected it to build a story or theme along the way. But it didn't. He didn't cover the history or the people very much and he just kind of rambles and visits a few unimportant people with unimportant things to show. For instance, one man in one town in Morocco keeps a pet chicken in his apartment. This is certainly odd, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the town. It was just a man with a peculiar pet. That alone isn't so bad, but he gave no reason to care about the man.

And then it goes down hill from there. Finally he gets into the desert and the film spends about ten or fifteen minutes of Palin trading incomprehensible foreign words that are clearly not even understood by Palin. He doesn't even explain after what they were talking about.

My impression is that the production crew got tired of trekking through the Sahara and quit halfway through, leaving very little film footage and yet a contract to produce two more episodes. The last episode in in a boat in the Mediterranean catching octopus and has nothing to do with the Sahara. Again, it appears to be the best he could get to fill the last hour.

Don't bother with this series.

I am collecting all of his video travel documentary series but this one and his Hemmingway disk are probably the least two I'd recommend. Still good but not as good as all the others.