Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Better Late Then Never

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As someone who will watch pretty much anything that is filmed on location in Africa, I found this historical retelling of the 19th century Geographic Society's scramble for discovery (also related to the European "scramble for Africa) to be entertaining, condescending and compelling. The cinematography is excellent, there is no mistaking some of those locations. And once you realize this is all a glimpse of Africa from white English explorers who cannot communicate (or even understand) their surroundings, and thus are as confused and appalled as the viewer in some scenes, you can get over some of the more racist undertones...because they were racist back then. So, take this as a period piece of discovery and adventure in an age when people all over the world were discovering each other for the first time, and you will absolutely enjoy it.

I have to compare this movie with the Mini series docudrama made by the BBC in the early 1970s called "The Search for the Nile." Sadly that 6 part series is only available on what appears to be a pirated VHS copy of a TV broadcast, but nonetheless I'd recommend viewing it for those people who gave this clunky bit of movie-making called "The Mountains of the Moon" high marks. Here are three of my many problems with MotM (1) the pacing is ham-handed - important scenes are rushed through in a minute or two, while irrelevant ones are dwelled on endlessly; (2) whose idea was it that one of the great linguists of the 19th century, if not all time, would be portrayed by an actor who can't enunciate English clearly? (3) furthermore, who thought that during the travels through Africa that Burton would always need a translator? Aside of these details, I didn't find the film emotionally involving at all. The African exploration by Europeans is a great story, but this film doesn't capture that for me.

Interesting docu-drama. Tells the story of the expedition of Captain Richard Burton and Lt John Hanning Speke to find the source of the Nile river, in the 1850s. Tells of their trials and tribulations, and what happened once they returned to England.For the most part, the movie is a boys-own story of action and adventure, of close escapes from mortal danger, and surviving. However, Disney this is not (and thankfully so). The action scenes are quite gritty and graphically violent, which give it a great sense of realism.Settings and cinematography are great, as you would hope for a exploration-adventure movie.Last few scenes are quite moving too.

The British Empire owed a lot to opportunistic soldiers of fortune as well as to explorers: men who risked their lives (and the lives of others) for profit, fame and the recognition from their peers for their accomplishments. In the last category one could think of men like Livingstone, Stanley, Scott and Burton. Captain Richard Francis Burton (whose life we follow in this film) risked a lot for the sake of discovery (to find the source of the Nile) but at the same time he was also a man with a genuine interest and outmost respect for the indigenous peoples and cultures found deep in Africa.In the film we see Burton joining forces with a young and ambitious Lieutenant (Lt. Speke) to travel again to his beloved Africa to locate the source of Nile with an expedition funded by the Royal Geographical Society. The film is an account of this trip but shows also events before and after this. Watching this movie we can grasp the differences between the two men, their strong ties and friendship during their common effort in the expedition and also later how each one coped with their success at home (London).The Mountains of the Moon is a fascinating film. It tells a great story without romanticizing the situations during and after the trip to Africa. Burton, Speke and their comrades endured too much to find the source of Nile, and all of them for their own reasons. The novel by William Harrison (that this movie is based on) does not fall into the trap of trying to imitate Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' but gives us a different perspective altogether. Do not miss this film.