Product ReviewsMountains of The Moon 0012236125303 With Richard E. Grant DVD Region 1

This is about a friendship that would have been much happier had the friends been less obstinate and difficult.

"Mountains of the Moon" tells the story of a series of expeditions led by Richard Burton (1821-90), and John Hanning Speke, who journeyed for months through East Africa in their search for the source of the Nile. They were the first Europeans to set eyes on most of the lands they walked across, the first to see many African species of animals, birds and insects, and to encounter tribal customs that had developed in an uninterrupted continuity since the birth of civilization. Burton was already famous for some of his other exploits, such as disguising himself as an Arab and slipping into the holy city of Mecca. Speke, a less dashing and more ambitious man, was not lacking in physical stamina but lacked Burton's fire. At first they were a good team. Later their differences destroyed them.

When one expedition finally reaches a lake that may be a source of the Nile, Burton arrives carried on a stretcher, almost too sick to think. A diary by a member of Scott's expedition to the South Pole is titled "The Worst Journey in the World." That could also be the diary of this expedition. This is the kind of movie that sends you away from the screen filled with curiosity to know more about this man Burton. It is a tribute to this movie that, at the end, neither the filmmakers nor their audience have much interest in whether anyone found the source of the Nile.Read full review...

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