My review title may seem odd, but in reading the reviews, I honestly think some of our other reviewers are a bit daft. This is not a documentary. It's probably best-described as historical-slightly-fictionalized. It isn't meant to be an historically accurate depiction of the events covered. If it was, hardly anyone would have watched it. For those of you who expect historical accuracy, go sit in a musty library and pull some old leather bound books off the shelf, and immerse yourself in the past. This is a dramatic "film", and quite a good one...and the reason I say that is because it gave me a feel for what "the dig" might have been like.
Max Irons is quite good here as archaeologist Howard Carter, although I would have to say that -- based on this one project -- his father (Jeremy) is probably the superior actor. Sam Neill is Lord Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter's project' Neill does quite well here. I was not particularly impressed with Amy Wren as Neill's character's daughter, but the performance is acceptable. More interesting was the performance of Catherine Steadman as a fellow archaeologist and potential love interest for Carter, and I was disappointed that we saw nothing of her toward the end of the film. I was singularly unimpressed with Jonathan Aris.
My only criticism of the production is that the fourth (and last) episode is a bit slow at times, even though it is the climax of the production. But overall the production plods along at a mostly steady pace.
Accurate as a documentary? Certainly not. But still rather enjoyable, and I'm glad I watched it.
Max Irons is quite good here as archaeologist Howard Carter, although I would have to say that -- based on this one project -- his father (Jeremy) is probably the superior actor. Sam Neill is Lord Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter's project' Neill does quite well here. I was not particularly impressed with Amy Wren as Neill's character's daughter, but the performance is acceptable. More interesting was the performance of Catherine Steadman as a fellow archaeologist and potential love interest for Carter, and I was disappointed that we saw nothing of her toward the end of the film. I was singularly unimpressed with Jonathan Aris.
My only criticism of the production is that the fourth (and last) episode is a bit slow at times, even though it is the climax of the production. But overall the production plods along at a mostly steady pace.
Accurate as a documentary? Certainly not. But still rather enjoyable, and I'm glad I watched it.