Review: National Geographic: Peru's Mass Grave Mystery

In the cloud forests of Peru are the remains a lost civilization and an ancient legend of mass murder. For hundreds of years, anthropologists have been hunting for who or what killed these people. National Geographic Channel tries to analyze the evidence and test theories to dig up the truth in this documentary.

This is a part of National Geographic Channels "explorer" series, which I am not a big fan of. Actually, I tend to dislike these documentaries. This was one of the better, but also this uses way to much time before it gets to the point; who killed these guys?

Over all, it met the NGC standard for quality, and if you see the first 10 minutes to understand what it is about, and then skip the next 30 minutes, so you just see the last 5 minutes, it's well worth your time. If not, well.. Stay away or at least multi-task. Not recommended, and rated 2 out of 6.

Review: Gaddafi: Our best enemy

This an insightful essay-style documentary by Frenchman Antoine Vitkine, which puts the current events in Libya into perspective by examining the motivations behind the actions of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi - a man whose peculiar appearance belies savvy negotiation skills. Gaddafi was born in a tent in the Libyan desert. This Arab nationalist gained notoriety at 27 after toppling King Idris I. He has since went on to survive several revolts, military strikes and embargoes while showing a knack for playing to Western interests, namely geopolitical security and oil reserves.

It's not a surprise many of the interviews about hidden dealings are tainted by realpolitik. These personal accounts from key players are a fascinating foray into the diplomatic world of riddles, theatrics and hidden agendas. I would even go so far and say it's a must watch for everyone that wants to get a deeper understanding of what happens in Libya these days.

Over all, it's well worth the one and a half hour it demands. It gets a little minus for bad production, and for using great amounts of clips with low quality, and land down on a solid 4 out of 6.

Review: National Geographic: Wicked Pirate City

Wicked Pirate City tells the story of the rise and fall of Port Royal, Jamaica — home of the original Pirates of the Caribbean — which catastrophically sank in an earthquake in 1692. An expedition team of archaeologists and scientists dive to the underwater site for the first time in 20 years, to create an accurate 3-D computer model of the ruined city. To bring Port Royal to life, historical experts dig deep into the world's archives to piece together the fascinating story of Port Royal's most swashbuckling character, Sir Henry Morgan, whose life is inextricably linked to the fortunes of the town. Alongside the unfolding diving expedition, Morgan's story is retold in high-quality action drama, seen through the eyes of a fictional privateer, Thomas Blakeway.

I loved the subject for this documentary! It was very interesting, and something I didn't knew much about before I saw it. I didn't know that the British government cooperated with pirates only to harm Spain, I was honestly a bit surprised over that. Well may it have been other ethics in the 17th century, but cooperating with criminals have never hit me as something a monarch would do. So wrong could I take, because that was exactly what they did – at least for a period, before it ended eventually. But when the British governor at Jamaica banned the french government was ready to take over the lucrative business.

I must also say that I really liked the concept for this documentary, and hope they will use it for others in the future. I loved to follow the story about Blakeway, parallel with the excavation team, and I think they had done a very good job making the story about him believable. Another thing I really liked and was new for me seeing in a NGC documentary, was internal conflict in the team of archaeologists. It may have just been acting, but I did the work for me. I thought it was a very nice touch, because you feel that you're coming a lot closer on the portrayed people when its showed some real feelings.

On the negative side, I have to mention it is a bit long. One and a half-hour to be prosily. But they use their time well, and does surprisingly enough, not repeat them self annoyingly often like it's standard for NGC-programs of this length. Still, it was a little boring in the end to be honest. One and a half-hour, is simply half-hour too long for me to find it meaningful to watch.

Over all, a great documentary I recommend. I was very in doubt wether I would give it a 4 or a 5, but I think I will have to end on a very strong 4, and a highly recommendation.

Review: National Geographic: The Angel Effect

Yesterday, I saw a documentary named «The Angel Effect», produced and aired of National Geographic Channel. I did not have so high expectations to be honest, after have been disappointed about the other documentaries from NGC lately (see other reviews, and you will see what I mean), but this one turned out to be one of the best documentaries – if not the best, from NGC I've ever seen.

A survivor of 9/11, an astronaut and a hole diver - all survived dramatically different traumatic events, only to tell shockingly similar stories: each had extraordinary experience, feeling a mysterious presence that they believe guided them to safety when they needed it the most. But what were these strange presence? Can they be explained? The devout call them guardian angels or divine encounters - others encounter a kind stranger. Could they have been angels? Phantoms? Or were their minds just playing tricks on them? Dubbed the "Third Man Factor," hundreds have reported this mysterious phenomenon - and now, science is taking a closer look, zeroing in on the location and the mechanism in the brain they believe may be responsible for these visions.

The documentary takes two different approaches to the phenomenon; a scientific explanation, delivered by a scientist who has done research on this field for several years, and a orthodox priest that I got the impression didn't had studied the phenomenon closely, but gave general answers to how angels are seen in orthodox Christian faith. In other words, I think the religiose approach suffered greatly from that it partly didn't get as much time as the scientific perspective, and partly from under-qualified interview objects. That is also the only bad thing to say about this documentary.

Because even if it was a little unbalanced, it was a great watch. It goes detailed in to the phenomenon and goes to great length to understand what is happening in the brain, and why. It also made me plunder on that if it's something that we have left behind from the pre-humans through the evolution; which else abilities have the majority of us lost?

The documentary had perfect length, was entertaining and very informative. Great combination, and if it hadn't been that it was a little unbalanced as previously mentioned, I would have given it a 6 out of 6, but I'm going for a very strong 5 out of 6, and I can without doubt recommend it.

Review: National Geographic Inside Outlaw Bikers: Hells Angels

National Geographic channel has made several of documentaries about different biker clubs. This one, is build up around an ATF-investigation that in fact flopped in court. They base the story mainly on the ATF-agent in charge of the undercover operation and an informant that was a part of the team. They have also managed to get interviews with different members of Hells Angels.

I got early an impression that the documentary was more a cover up for the ATF then a reliable source of information. Having spent millions of dollars on a undercover operation, trying to get Hells Angels members in Arizona behind bars, and then the whole thing flopped. I guess some people feel the need for finding someone to blame, and especially the ATF-agent that leaded the operation gave me a strong impression of having his own motives for taking part in this documentary.

That said, I was very impressed that they had managed to get actual members and officials to speak with the camera on. Media often tend to portray them as hardcore criminals, and maybe they are, but they came really well out of the interviews in this documentary. Though, I think National Geographic misused the whole opportunity with these interviews. Instead of focusing only on this ATF-operation, they could have had a broader perspective on the Hells Angels.

I knew a little about Hells Angels before I saw this documentary from media coverage, and I did not learn anything knew at all.

This documentary was a big disapointment. It was not especially boring to watch, and it was perfect length, but their sources was not especially convincing, and it was a great deal of undocumented claims about the group. All in all, it was a straight forward 2. Not recommended, but not horrible enough for a 1.

Review: Discovery Channel: Nuclear Nightmare Japan in Crisis

As you probably can guess, this documentary tries to explain what happened i Japan regarding the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant. The documentary is produced and aired regularly by Discovery Channel.

First of all, I have to admit that I didn't knew that much about the nuclear crisis. I did basically not know any details before I saw this documentary. I'm saying this, because I think it may be a little basic for some of you. Consider yourself warned.

The documentary combines footage from a group from Sea Shepherd that was stationed in Japan at the time of the event, graphical illustrations, interviews with survivors and experts and other footage taken from the scenes. I don't think this was such a great move, because you end up hearing a lot of stuff about how people feel about everything. I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but give me a break. I don't need a «tsunami survivor» to tell me it was scary. Seriously!

Anyway. You get all the questions you may have about the nuclear crisis answered, but it will take time. Because they have stuffed in so much material in this documentary – it ends up being over one hour long, even before you add commercial breaks. In my opinion, you need a very good reason to demand more then 40 minutes of my time, and I don't think this documentary qualifies for that.

So, do I recommend it? Well... Tricky question. In a way, yeah – it was a good watch, and the production was OK. But over all, it was just average, and if you have in mind the insane length, the picture becomes more unclear. I think I would have to say that I wont warn you about this, but at the same time; I wont recommend you to see it. Translated to my rating system; a very weak 3.

Review: Kate and William: A Royal Love Story

Oh yes, I have just seen yet another documentary about the royal couple everyone is talking about; Kate and William. This one was produced by BBC, and aired the day before the wedding.

Over all, it was an okay documentary if youre not particulary interested in the royal wedding, and just want a short and uncontroversial version of the story. It was short and to the point. No gossip, no slander. On the other hand, it was equally not as deep as the two others I've earlier reviewed here on the blog; Kate and William: A Modern Romance and William and Cathrine: A Modern Fairytale

The documentary was well produced, and all in all slightly entertaining. Though, it had a strong element of propaganda – as you can expect from the state channel the day before a royal wedding. Still, its worthy for a 4 out of 6.

Review: National Geographic Ancient Secrets: Chinas Lost Pyramids

Did you know China has several of the biggest pryamids in the world? Me neither. I thought it was only egyptians that build pyramids, but it turns out that the chinese emperors also built pryamids for themselves. This documentary shows how, why and where.

I thought this was a great documentary. It was very interesting, and it was very well produced. On the negative side, it was too long as National Geographic tend to make its documentaries. I dont know why, maybe because they want to add a few extra breaks for commercials, but I think its stupid anyway. This could honestly have been a 5 out of 6, if it hadnt been for that I got very bored the last 15 minutes. I rate it as a solid 4/6.

Review: Leaving Amish Paradise

«Leaving Amish Paradise» is a follow-up on another documentary about the same amish community; «Trouble in Amish Paradise». In the original, the camera team followed a family that was on their way out of the church after they had been «shauned» or handed over to the devil as the amish believes. The reason was that they wanted to become evangelical-christians, and read the bible in english, which the amish church denies it members. Only an old translation in german is allowed.

The documentary is balanced, and gives another perspective on the amish church then you will often get through the media. They are not only a peaceloving group of people who like the old lifestyle; they too have complex problems and disagreements in their communties. This results in a solid 5 out of 6.

Review: National Geographic: Finding Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is probably among the worlds most, if not the most, well-known «cold cases». Even thoguh Jack the Ripper didnt kill that many people compared to other serial killers, and that his target group was limited to only street girls, it was what he did to the dead bodies that made him the legend he is today. His kills was pretty regular and fast, but afterwards, he cut out organs from their bodies. According to one of the experts in this documentary, the killer got sexual satisfaction out of doing this, and that was his motive too.

This documentary aimes, as the title may indicate, to find the killer behind the name. Over hundred candidates has been suggested over the years, and who it was, will probably never be known, but its still fun to speculate. This documentary fails dramatically imideatly by pretending its possible – several decades later, with the help from a couple of retired police investigators and a camera team to solve the riddle. It cant get more stereotypical american then this.

Over all this documentary sucked. It was not entertaining, it was not interesting, it bored the hell out of me, and the whole concept was in fact plain stupid. You have probably already guessed the score, and yes, this will be the first on the blog to get 1 out of 6. And the only reason for that, is that my scale wont allow me to give anything lower. I will strongly recommend to not see this. Its just a waste of time. Go to sleep for an hour instead.

Review: National Geographic: Britains Nazi King

This doucmentary is about king Edward of the United Kingdom, who ruled for only one year between 1945 and 1946, before he left the throne to marry a woman that had been divorced two times. This documentary claim that king Edward not only was highly inappropiate in is choose of female companionship, but also in relation to political connections. According to the documentary, King Edward supposedly had a close relationship with central players in the nazi-German government, and also connections to fascist movements all over Europe.

I got the impression that documentary based it claims mainly on casefiles from FBI. As we all know, FBI has a shady history when it comes to investigating political abnormalities, and it wouldnt suprise me if the bureau yet again had been a little fast in its conclusions. After all, several historians have proved that many of the people the bureau suspected for being communists in fact was not. I think the documentary should have been more critical towards the documents they used to make it, and preferrably get opinions from people that had the opposit view.

The documentary failed to entertain me, and actually was pretty confusing, because of an unusual big person gallery. It was very hard to keep track on all the names and which role they had in the story that was told. It was also pretty unnecessary in my opionion and its probably only a result of lazy handwork from National Geographic. This doucmnetary is therefore not recommended, and I give it the lowest score so far; 2 out of 6.

Review: National Geographic: The Ghost Ship

This documentary is about a group of scientist from Sweden that searched for wrecks of airplanes from world war 2. On one of their journeys, when they searched for a spyplane wreck, they discovered something weird on their radar; a ship.

It turns out its an very old sailship, loaded with goods and an story, forgotten by time, gets put together by the investigation team. Piece by piece – like a puzzle, they learn more and more about the ships whereabouts.

I thought the documentary was bit boring. I have no interest in the subject what so ever, and think they could have speeded up the story a little bit, because it was a little interesting to hear about the ship. It was only the procesess it took them to get the information that bored me.

Score: 3/6

Review: King James Bible: The Book that Changed the World

This is a review of the BBC produced documentary "King James Bible: The Book that Changed the World".

King James Bible is one of the most well-known bible editions in the world, and has in its 400 years of existence, spread to every corner of the earth. This documentary is the story about how it came to life. The story starts with a young king, king James of Scottland – and later; king James of England. The young king is teached by one of the most prominent scholars at the time, and learn his appreciation for language and litterature – and religion. When he later becomes king of England, and by that head of the Church of England, he gets good use of his expertise when the bishops and the external scholars is trying to persuade him to do as they want.

When king James takes over, he takes over a church that is falling apart. The people is tired of the greedy, and awfully rich and powerfull bishops mindcontroll. They are tired of unfaithfullness and double-standards. King James a long way agree with the people in that the bible edition they use, actually; the only edition that is allowed to be used, is a bad translation and not up to date. Therefore – in a compromise between the bishops and the representatives of the people – king James establishes a comittee that is going to write a new edition of the bible; more accuracy and as close up to the original text as possible.

Today, King James Bible, is the only legacy after king James that is still in use. Its a monument over a God-loving king. A true christian.

This is one of the best, if not the best historical documentary I've ever watched. It was detailed, and very accurate, and uses just the right amount of dramatisations and special effects to make the story come to life, but at the same time keeping the respect and dignity the story deserves.

I would recommend this movie to anyone – even if you're not familliar with the christian faith or english history at all! This a great documentary to see, if you want to learn more about both subjects. Therefore, I give it the highest score for the first time on this blog; 6 out of 6.

Review: History Channel: Weird Warfare

I have just finished seeing History Channels "Weird Warfare", which documents the weirdest inventions that is made with intention in using it for warfare. It is over one and a half hour long - a little too long, if you ask me, and I got bored after about 40 mintes, which in my opinion is ideal length for these documetaries.

That said, I laughed a lot. A great deal of the weapons can be classified as "animal cruelty", but they don't show clips with animals suffering. Most of these incidents are also ridicilouse and extremly funny. For instance special trained russian dogs, intended for running under german tanks during world war 2 with bombs. The problem was that the dogs was only trained to run under, and run back. So they did that. With the bombs - back to the trainer! Haha. Funny!

Because of the length, it became pretty boring, but the beging was really entertaining, so I will give this a 3 out of 6. See the begining, and turn it off. It is definetly worth it.

Review: William and Catherine: A Modern Fairytale

I mentioned in a previouse post that I wanted to see more about the upcomming wedding between prince William and Kate Middelton, and thats exactly what I did! Today I saw a second documentary about the couple. This time, it was ABC's «William and Catherine: A Modern Fairytale».

So was it boring to see another documentary about the same subject? No! Not at all! While the other documentary talked more about how they met, and pointed out some possible problems, this one focused more on tradtions and put the wedding into a historical perspective. I thought it was very interesting, especially since I already had seen one about how they met and everything.

On the negative side, I would like to mention that I did not like how they talked about Kate in this documentary. She was to some extent portrayed as a «gold digger», and thats not the impression I have gotten from other news soruces, and it hit me as completley unjustified!

In spite of this; if you're only going to see one of these documentaries; «Kate and William: A Modern Romance» or «William and Catherine: A Modern Fairytale» - I think I would have to recommend this one. The only reason is that I like royal british history, and this had a great portion of it.

The documentary qualifies for a 5 out of 6 – just as the previouse, and for the same reasons; well made, and interesting – just a different angel and perspective wich was quite refreshing.

Review: Kate and William: A Modern Romance

It's been made several of documentaries about Kate Middelton and prince William of Wales since the news about their engament was made public last year - and hopefully it's more to be made, because this documentary gave me the lust for more about these two!

The documentary tells the beautiful story of how they met at the university and started dating, ending up with how Kate Middelton grew into the position she has now - the future queen of the United Kingdom, before in it's final part talks about the life after marriage. It interviews a lot of different people that has different views and perspectives on the upcomming marriage, making it interesting and informative. Of course, as always, a great deal of the interview objects is from the tabloid media, but in this setting - it did not feel wrong. All of them was respectfull, and seemed to be happy for the upcomming marriage.

So is this documentary another propaganda movie, looking out to earn som easy bucks on the hordes of fans? No, not at all. It was actually quite the opposite. I was actually very puzzled by how honest it was and how risky this marriage may seem, and the many challenges the couple will meet. For instance; they are going to live up in nowhere in Wales where Kate will be homestaying - is Kate ready to say good bye to her life? Is her love for William strong enough to keep up with such a resposibility? And do prince William really love her? Lets hope the answere on these questions is yes. If not, we may have a Diania 2.0.

I will rate this documentary to a 5 out of 6. Not because it was mindblowing, but because it was entertaining, but at the same time informative - and very well made. I was not bored a single second.

Review: National Geographics Inside the Muslim Brotherhood

I recently watched National Geographics documentary "Inside the Muslim Brotherhood". Was a little tired at the moment, so to be honest, I didnt give it my fully attention. This is also partly caused by previouse experience with National Geographics documentaries; they tend to repeat stuff a few times. A little boring when its a subject you are very interested in, and feel a hunger for the most information about the subject as possible to deliever in a 50 minutes documentary, but practical when youre tired and just want some easy, but educational, entertaiment.

Over all, the documentary was as always with National Geographic, well made. The production and their interviews is always top tier. But as always, you can question their interview objects. I am not going to do that now, but Im sure if I did some close research on them, I would find that several of them has what you would call "colored opinons" and possibly motives for taking a stand in either direction. I got early a feeling that National Geograpic had a hidden agenda with this documentary regarding bashing islam. But after thinking about it a little bit, I think its rather caused by commercial interests. The anti-islam movement is like a wave over Europe these days, so why not making some money on it?

Anyways, the "Muslim brotherhood" is not something to joke around with, but I dont think they are as big of a threat as they would like to be, and National Geographic is portraying them as, but its a subject I dont now much about, and will investigate further on my own. As an introduction, I thought this documentary was a great start, and I will therefor rate it as a good 4 of 6.