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If you were wondering about how to find something, or some place, you'd most likely search the internet...that is, if you couldn't launch your own satellite into orbit and look for that place from there. It's hard to imagine looking for anything any other way, right?
What if you wanted to locate the source of a great river, say the Nile? Well, you'd just program that afore mentioned satellite to search the most likely area of North Africa, and you'd have all the info by noon the same day, pinpointed right down to within a hair on a Gnat's toosh!
Now, just suppose you were living 150 years ago! No phones. No TV, or radio. No satellites, or anything that flies besides risky hot air balloons, and you still want to find the source of the Nile! How do you do so?
First off, you walk!...A lot! You also better be an extremely adventurous type, because there are no corner filling stations to get directions, and no maps! Well, that would lose most of us, wouldn't it? No? You still want to find the source of the Nile and get your name in the history books?
Did I mention hundreds of hostile tribesmen that want nothing more than to wear parts of your body to their next social event? Not to mention vast vistas teaming with wild animals, and rugged hill country that only lead to even more rugged mountains, that you'll have to walk over! Still sound interesting?
Such are the historical events as depicted in "MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON" the 1989 mega-production that recounts the spectacular adventures of two-Englishman, Captain Richard Burton (Patrick Bergin) and Lieutenant John Speke (Ian Glen), who boldly go where no civilized white-man had ever gone before. Burton, who was actually Irish, is one of the most interesting characters from the 19th century! He was a man that seemed more at home among savages in Darkest Africa, than among his own kind. He was an author whose writings, I wish I could say I'm familiar with. Above all, he was an adventurer, who served as the very prototype for that word!
Burton and Speke's story is graphically, and at times, violently told in Mountains of the Moon. In this lush "on location" epic that isn't in the main stream of movies unless you love 19th century fare as I do. Based on the biographical novel "Burton and Speke" by William Harrison, which gives an accurate account of these two-hero's lives, in and out of the untamed wilderness. It includes the sad fact of Speke's betrayal of Burton after the two-men had formed such a strong bond during their trek to eventually find the source of the Nile.
The DVD comes in a wide-screen version with Dolby Stereo Surround, digitally mastered. It got "Two-Thumbs Up" by Siskel (RIP) & Ebert. This is a truly grand production! You may have to look hard for this one, but it's worth seeing!