Customer Reviews

Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen

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

 

 

I first saw this video on NGHD (National Geographic HD). I was stunned at the quality and again I get to watch Dr. Hawass in action. I am, stunned by the abisimal 2 star rating by the previous rater. I feel this is an exceptional piece that will give my Grade 6 Social Studies students a unique experience that differs from the tired Egypt materials that I often find. A job well done to the Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

I thought this documentary was excellent. During this 100 minute DVD a couple of mysteries are slowly solved. Using archaeological explorations, CAT scans, and molecular genetics (DNA testing) a number of experts set out to determine which of 4 mummies is ancient Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut and why her images were defaced and her legacy erased in ancient times. During the program, the historical background related to who this Egyptian ruler was is provided. A very interesting program.

I showed this video to my 10th grade World History students and I have never seen high schoolers pay such close attention to a video. They loved it--it provided a lot of information on basic archaeology while educating them about the pharaohs of Egypt.

It drags on a bit, so maybe not perfect for a classroom, but definitely worth the cost.

5 out of 5.

It is hard enough to solve a mystery that happened a few years ago (like the Kennedy assassination?)but to trace a mummy over 4000 years old and to identify it with modern technology makes makes it looks like an episode of Perry Mason (I wouldn't call it CSI).

I bought this DVD for my ten-year-old daughter who was studying Hatchepsut at school. It not just gave her a great background knowledge of this little-known Queen, but also stimulated a much larger interest in Egyptology.

She still watches it now and loves the way that Dr. Zahi solved a ancient mystery through modern day technology.

It takes you through the journey of how he went about trying to track Hatchepsut's mummy but also provides interesting footage about why her mummmy might have been moved through background knowledge about her controversial life and rein.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD as did my daughter.

I showed this video to my 6th graders (after a short intro to her family tree) in 2 installments. My students were totally hooked! They even left for recess sharing guesses about who killed her and which mummy was really hers. I only skipped through a couple minutes' worth; otherwise, it was perfect. Well-done and suspenseful!

Most documentaries are 50 minutes or 75. This was much longer than that. Discovery Channel paid for some of the research here and maybe the length is their way of congratulating themselves. This dragged terribly to me.

I knew someone who visited the main museum in Egypt and she said the museum is set up in a way that does not take the visitor into account at all. She said there were all kinds of famous artifacts that were placed in a sloppy manner. In this documentary, it always takes museum staff hours or days to find items. I live in Chicago and I am quite sure that the Art Institute or the Field Museum can tell you where each and every item is shown or stored.

I went to a university that provided an undergraduate major in Egyptology. One of the requirements was that students study either French or German because so much research on Ancient Egypt is published in those languages. I was not surprised to see Egyptian or French experts working in this documentary. However, they showed Spanish, Polish, and American experts doing the same. Perhaps, decades after Egypt's independence, other countries are still encouraged to do research there about the past.

I loved seeing Dr. Zahi Hawass, with his deep chin dimple, again. He has trilled R's and dramatic gestures. With his gray-white hair, light brown complexion, and grandfatherly persona, he may remind many of the late musician Tito Puente, Sr. This work had interviewees of both genders and many ethnic backgrounds.

Still, the documentary drags the viewer along without being concise. They rule out one mummy after describing her at length when she is obviously not the queen. They finally make a decision which should have been obvious to them at the start of the documentary. The experts probably made this test from the start, but the documentary makers, again, wanted to keep viewers in their seats longer.

I'm pretty sure that Leslie Feinberg has written of Hapshutsep and many other "female kings" in her political work on transgender people. I wish this work would have said much more about a "female king." Did her subjects call her "he" or "she"? Did they resent having a woman in power? Why couldn't a "queen" be a ruler, rather than a "female king"? Was her name and statues destroyed due to sexism? Yes, the Ancient Egyptians probably did not have a concept called feminism, but these are still logical questions to ask which the documentary ignores. This documentary takes too long on forensics and architecture, and barely raises important concerns from gender studies.