Susan Granger’s review of “Mystery of the Nile” (IMAX presentation)
What’s the longest river in the world? It’s the Nile which, in its entirety, flows 4,132 miles through Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Eritrea and Burundi. The Nile’s water comes from two main tributaries: the White Nile, with its milky, silt-filled appearance, and the Blue Nile, which joins the White Nile in Sudan. But until last year, no one has successfully “run” or descended the entire Nile river by boat – from its primary source at Lake Tana in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea – until an expedition led by geophysicist Pasquale Scaturro in April, 2004. Scaturro’s journey of some 3,260 miles took 114 days. It began in the highlands of Ethiopia at Sakala Springs, near Lake Tana. While Scaturro had previously explored many Africa rivers, his claim-to-fame was guiding blind climber Erik Megahed up Mount Everest in 2001. For this Nile expedition, he assembled a motley crew: experienced kayaker Gordon Brown, Spanish journalist Saskia Lange, Spanish archeologist Myriam Seco, Egyptian hydrologist Mohamed Megahed and Chilean photographer Michel L’Huillier. Except for Brown, the others were relatively inexperienced in the rigors of rafting. That makes their trials and tribulations, amid extreme heat, with sandstorms, windstorms, a pod of hippos and other predators even more daunting. Filmed in part by acclaimed IMAX cinematographer Reed Smoot and directed by writer Jordi Llompart, this expedition chronicle offers stunning large-format footage of some of Africa’s most breath-taking locations, including Brown’s rope descent of Tissisat Falls and a terrifying look at what it’s like when a raft capsizes, dumping its occupants into raging white waters where crocodiles have been spotted. (Crocodiles devour more people than all other African animals.) What “Mystery of the Nile” lacks is the tension that’s inherent in what we’ve come to expect from drama. Basically, it’s a travelogue, not an adventure saga. While the expedition seems to be alone in the wilderness, the IMAX crew was obviously there, along with its support staff. For that reason, there’s no suspense when Brown is fired on by gun-toting bandits as he’s on a scouting expedition; we already know that the ambush failed. And instead of showing a ferocious crocodile attack, a narrative voice-over briefly mentions that it occurred. Too much screen time is devoted to a picturesque Coptic church carved from a single block of limestone and huge Egyptian tomb statuary which, while mildly interesting the first time, are not worth re-visiting twice, even when Scaturro blithely identifies the Ark of the Covenant with the 10 Commandments that were given by God to Moses as “the box that Indiana Jones was after.” And not enough time is spent exploring the remnants of ancient city of Meroe in Sudan with its mystical ruins and black pyramids from the powerful Kingdom of Kush that flourished as a Nubian commercial center for caravan trade for seven centuries. It’s also too bad that no mention is made of the light-skinned caste of priests, probably from India, who appointed a Meroe king who was obliged to live and act according to prescribed rules and could be sentenced to death whenever the priests wished. It was not until the 3rd century B.C., during the reign of Ptolemy II in Egypt, that King Ergamenes was able to free himself from the priests’ tyranny. Now Meroe is a haunting ghost town, covered with sand. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, IMAX’s “Mystery of the Nile” is a scenic 6, exploring that mighty river’s cultural, agricultural and societal importance.
