Movie
Review: 'Mystery of the Nile (IMAX)'
Larry Ratliff
Express-News Film Critic
You'll marvel at the world's longest river in "Mystery of
the Nile." You're likely to walk away thinking about the
12-foot crocodiles that thrash around in the world's longest river,
though.
"Mystery of the Nile," living large on a five-story
IMAX screen, tells a simple story that becomes majestic by virtue of
its groundbreaking nature.
When expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro and his crew dipped
their rafts into the source of the Nile in the Ethiopian mountains
on Christmas Day 2003, they were attempting something no one has
done before.
Many have tried to navigate the white-water rapids, a massive
waterfall and blazing heat to ride the Nile all 3,260 miles to the
Mediterranean Sea. And many have failed.
Some drowned. The crocs got others. Still others were killed by shifta
, or roving bandits.
Writer-director-producer Jor- di Llompart, a TV director and
documentary maker in Spain, keeps as low a profile as a few tons of
IMAX large-format equipment can possibly be throughout the journey.
For the most part, "Mystery of the Nile" leaps from the
screen as a personal history-making journey through breathtakingly
beautiful, yet often hostile territory.
Scaturro, who narrates in a succinct yet personal manner, is
joined by partner Gordon Brown, a determined kayaker.
Mohamed Megahed, an Egyptian hydrologist, journalist Saskia Lange
and Myriam Seco, a Spanish archaeolo- gist, also hop in two 16-foot
rubber rafts for what will become a grueling, yet fascinating
four-month journey down the Nile.
In his first IMAX feature, Llompart fills the huge screen with
images that at first sight play like a glorified travelogue.
Scaturro and his party venture inland to visit exotic ghost towns,
medieval churches carved out of bedrock and even a camel auction.
Yet the emotions of fatigue from a seemingly never-ending journey
and danger (rapids, bandits and don't forget the crocs) come across
as very real.
This is the sort of subject matter an IMAX film can serve very
well. And veteran large-format cinematographer Reed Smoot
("Special Effects," an Oscar nominee) captures all the
action quite well.
The pure spectacle of the ebbing events makes the visit an
enjoyable adventure. And an educational one as well.
Running time: 47 minutes
MPAA rating: none (mild action violence)
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