Friday, January 14, 2011

Masters of the Congo (1955)


This is a better than I thought it would be documentary about life, human, animal and plant, in the Congo basin just as the colonial period was coming to a close. It's a serious look with out the smart ass attitude of the later mondo movies about how everything, man, animals and the land all work together to create a very special place.

From the opening moments I found myself hooked and dragged along as we watch the people living in the area, listen to their legends and see the sites. It's a gorgeous film (or would be had I not been reduced to watching this in a very washed out print) that I wish I had seen on the big screen. This is a film that just moves along from thing to thing piquing our curiosity at each turn.

If there is any place that the film falls down its in the structure of the film which seems to meander about too much and doesn't fully connect one thing to the next. Still this is a really good little documentary that I have no trouble recommending especially at the bargain price of the Alpha release.

No comments:

Post a Comment