Mountains of the Moon

NoCopZone3.0

About ten years ago, I was working as the projectionist at a film festival where Bob Rafelson was being honored with a lifetime achievement award. Rafelson, who was in his 70s, arrived for the closing evening an hour late, and climbed out of his limousine utterly blotto. At the time I wore a stud belt with a cartoony ray gun belt buckle (trust me, I know).As I went to shake his hand he said "You got a fish belt!" I looked down and saw that my festival lanyard was hanging over the gun's grip and handle. I moved it out of the way. "Oh, it's a fish gun" he said. That's the only conversation I've ever had with a famous director.

Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"4.0

"Mountains of the Moon" is a 1990 film directed by Bob Rafelson. The film showcases the expedition of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke and their trek down the Nile River. Searching for the source of it all, the collaborators dually became rivals throughout the expedition. This was largely due to Burton falling ill with Speke continuing on without him. While Burton himself did inevitably become the first European explorer to discover Lake Tanganyika in Africa and go on a many other travels, Speke discovered what became Lake Victoria, the confirmed source of the Nile River that they were looking for. This confirmation was eventual, as there was debate between the two. The film showcases this journey, some of the discrepancy and agreement, and ultimately follows Burton life a bit more in the end.A big vision that holds candor to be shot within the natural element, "Mountains of the Moon" provided an interesting story of history and exploration that I did not know the most about. That being said, I do think that at times it lacked the major moments that drew me in further, simply in comparison to other historical epics of this size. Additionally, there is quite a few notable faces, but I was quite surprised there really wasn't much star power behind this feature, with possibly most of the budget going into more locational and production value elements. Delroy Lindo is featured in a minor role, and while he is always appreciated, his character didn't get much screen time design. As much as I enjoyed this film, I do think that eventually the story behind the characters could easily be made again with a grander element to it all. Not dismissing the film, I just strangely though I was going to get a larger experience but still appreciate what I got.

matt lynch4.0

quite the ripping yarn, an exotic heroic bromance and a thrilling piece of history all wrapped up in a bring 'em back alive adventure story. seems fully cognizant of its position as an essentially colonialist narrative, especially given the brutality of most of the African characters our white heroes encounter. personally i think that violence is somewhat recontextualized here as part of the high cost of the pursuit of knowledge, and there's also a dual focus on social systems and rituals in both cultures, both governed -- sometimes very harshly -- by rules that would be totally obscure to an outside observer.