Monday, October 31, 2005

Review: BBC Television's "Egypt"

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/49770.html
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/49770-print.shtml
Ian Bell's somewhat entertaining review of last night's first episode of the six part dramatized story of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon doesn't rate it too highly: "Trivia question: what's the real curse of King Tut? What is the ancient malediction sent down over 3000 long years just to make us wonder about the brevity of life? Possibly it's the sheer number of books, documentaries and dramas that have been made about Howard Carter and the discovery of the last, intact pharaonic tomb in the Valley of the Kings. 'One day,' the boy-king must have said to himself, 'no-one will know anything about any ruler of Egypt save me, and they will go on hearing the tale over and over again. Such is my curse.' He was good enough to chuck in lots of shiny things to sweeten the deal, of course".
Bell's main criticism is that the characters are too thinly drawn, with no insight about what motivated the obsessive Carter. See the full article for more. The second URL is the printer-friendly format which shows the enitre article on one page.

No comments: