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National Geographic
Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife
When
it comes to documentaries, National Geographic are up their with the
best and whether it’s history, science or life, they have been the
forefront of returning easily digestible chunks of information back to
the general public. Merging engaging information with visually stunning
cinematography, re-enactments and CGI, Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife revolves around one of
the worlds most popular and mysterious civilizations who
believed in a strange assortment of deities from Anubis, the Jackal
headed god to the green skinned Osiris, another god of death who was
murdered by his evil brother Seth. The documentary follows Pharaoh Seti
the 1st as he battles one of the most arduous journeys of his life from
mummification to the various tasks and monsters that he must face during
his road to eternal rest.
This
film revolves around the after life of the Egyptian and in order
for the person to pass successfully to the afterlife, their family and
priests needed to ensure that their ceremonies and sacrifices were
accurate or they could face permanent death without any chances of
resurrection. Needless to say, it was a terrifying premise for the
ancient Egyptians and this documentary goes into great depths of how
their dead would travel to the next life, both here and in the
afterlife with the sun being their guiding force.
From
expert interviews to re-enactments and gorgeously presented footage of
artefacts and tombs, Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife is not just a
rehash of older information about this civilization and actually reveals
more information on the process, especially by their god kings and the
pharaohs whose tombs were actually resurrection machines that dictated how their lives would unfold in the afterlife.
Another interesting aspect of this documentary is the engaging mythology
of the various gods and goddesses that were worshipped by the Egyptians
and also the very dangers that their spirits faced in the afterlife from
monsters to other spirits and of course, the judgement of the gods which
was carefully captured in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. For Seti, this
book was painted on his tomb in order for him to travel through the
Egyptian realm of hell as he turns into the Sun God Ra and this is all done
through the assistance of the priests. The reason why the Egyptians
stocked their tombs with material goods and shawabtis, miniature dolls
which looked like servants was to assist them in the afterlife, provided
they made it through the chores of the gods. The documentary perfectly
finishes with that of the sun which was the most powerful force for the
Egyptians and their guide towards the afterlife. Brilliant from start to
finish!
Audio/Video
This
presentation is first class that features Dolby Digital 2.0 with crystal
clear audio and glorious 16:9 widescreen that makes the artefacts and
locales come alive. There is a little bit of grain but this is
understandable for DVD. Nonetheless, it's extremely good for this
format.
Special
Features
Apart from the excellent main feature on this documentary, it also
contains another documentary called Egypt’s Hidden Treasures that takes
the viewer on an interesting journey through the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo which brought back a wealth of fond memories to me when I did visit
Egypt. Celebrating the museum’s anniversary and getting ready for the
millennium exhibition, the curators take the viewer on an amazing
journey beneath the Cairo museum.
From relics to royal mummies and in-depth
interviews from the staff, it also tells the viewer the techniques that
have been used to discover the items, preserve them and displaying them
for the public. Some items have not been seen for almost a hundred years
and some of the items are quite strange, such as the sarcophagus of a
shrew. This special feature nicely compliments the main documentary that
I recommend that all viewers investigate.
Perfect! |
