The First Emperor - The Man Who Made China This is a straightforward, no-nonsense dramatised documentary of the life of the extraordinary Emperor Q'in, the man who united China over 2,200 years ago - the man for whom the terracotta warriors were made and who ordered the linking and completion of the defensive walls which came to make up the Great Wall of China. It is very well done indeed and tells its story in an interesting and involving manner throughout. We see some of the excavations on the site around the Emperor's tomb, which itself has never been excavated and the story of his life is told by distinguished academics from American universities and the University of Cambridge. Several episodes - battles, an assassination attempt, the death of the sinister Marquis and his two children by the Queen Mother, the final disintegration of the Emperor's physique and personality - are tellingly dramatised, but this is in no way a sensational film ; we see also earnest (but not dull! - actually very interesting) discussion about the meaning of some of the artefacts at the pits around the tomb, glimpses of the modern China, the text from which what is known about the Emperor's reign mainly comes, and so on. In particular the informed speculation about what is actually in the tomb is very well brought to life. It is both informative and dramatic, and both aspects contribute to the narrative. I'd seen it on TV, but couldn't remember the result of the mercury soundings.
The classic Canadian documentary Manufacturing Consent based on the Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman book by the same name. Explores the the propaganda model of the media.
Directed by David Belhassen and Asher Hemias. The documentary won the award for "Best Documentary" at the Haifa International Film Festival and was featured as a documentary at the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007.
Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. They remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. In the Shadow of the Moon brings together for the first, and very possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every single Apollo mission which flew to the Moon, and allows them to tell their story in their own words. The definitive story of going to the moon, told by those who went. Between 1969 and 1972 an elite group of men achieved an incredible dream. They were, and remain, the only human beings to set foot on a planet other than our own. These personal testimonies are interwoven with digitally remastered footage from Nasa film archives, much of it previously unseen and all of it hauntingly evocative of a bygone era. The result is an intimate and epic film which vividly communicates the daring and the danger, the pride and the passion, of this band of special young men.
The First Emperor - The Man Who Made China This is a straightforward, no-nonsense dramatised documentary of the life of the extraordinary Emperor Q'in, the man who united China over 2,200 years ago - the man for whom the terracotta warriors were made and who ordered the linking and completion of the defensive walls which came to make up the Great Wall of China. It is very well done indeed and tells its story in an interesting and involving manner throughout. We see some of the excavations on the site around the Emperor's tomb, which itself has never been excavated and the story of his life is told by distinguished academics from American universities and the University of Cambridge. Several episodes - battles, an assassination attempt, the death of the sinister Marquis and his two children by the Queen Mother, the final disintegration of the Emperor's physique and personality - are tellingly dramatised, but this is in no way a sensational film ; we see also earnest (but not dull! - actually very interesting) discussion about the meaning of some of the artefacts at the pits around the tomb, glimpses of the modern China, the text from which what is known about the Emperor's reign mainly comes, and so on. In particular the informed speculation about what is actually in the tomb is very well brought to life. It is both informative and dramatic, and both aspects contribute to the narrative. I'd seen it on TV, but couldn't remember the result of the mercury soundings.