09-01-2010, 07:49 PM
...... O.K. , I guess some of you 'd like to have a word or two about that TV-feature.
Hear ye !
The first shot showed a still of woods in a forrest, very much like some of the pictures in that feature in National Geographic/Germany . ( June 2010)
Well, i said to myself : Hallywoode, here thou comethst.
Boy, was I wrong, as the feature turned into something like a pleasant surprise.
No overly lenghty reenactment sequences with unadequately dressed people like e.g. some of the "roman features" on ZDF-TV with ... well, we've discussed this here enough ...
The short sequences , as far as I got them (some were very short ..) seemed to have done with folks correctly equipped .
The experts "in charge" mostly were Prof. Dr. Günther Moosbauer, University of Osnabrück and Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer, Free University of Berlin, [obviously the people mainly handling excavation/organisation and "data-deriving"]
with a "honourable mention" of Dr. Henning Haßmann, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege ( ~Upper monument authority of Nether Saxonia).
Surprisingly , Dr. Petra Lönne played no role -- or did I overlook some very short scenes ?
Yes, and they also did give credits and ample time "to have their say" to the Excavation Technicians Michael Brangs and Thorsten Schwarz.
Hey: .... and NO contradictionary (and stupid) comments by an "off-scene" "narrator/commenter" like in other dreadful productions about similar topics !
The course of the movie ran somewhat different to my immpressions that I gained from the press-realeases and and press-reports on the Harzhorn.
I think that this is owed to a special dramaturgy which carries the the story of the movie. "Excursions", luckily not overly lenghty also play a role in this course.
My impression is also, that this is not harmful to the subject, --on the contrary !!
(P.S. It starts, probably like in "real life" also, with a private surveyor who found s.th. that he thought was a "candle-holder" -- and turned out to be a hippo-sandal ...)
We learn a lot here about what the people involved in prospection and excavation think, how and why they acted ... that includes informations about modern prospection- and excavation-techniques.
(There ARE some people having fun out there, obviously)
Some tiny aspects were even new to me.
All done quite logic and "organic" --- at least to my impression.
I also gained a lot of informations on the Harzhorn-research. And, yes, pictures DO speak louder than words.
e.g. the close-up on the (broken) germanic spear-tip, where you could clearly see the engraving on it.
They also put emphasize on the meaning of the hobnail-finds for the course of reasoning about the battles' run and outcome.
(The balistae's bolt-tips were also "touched" but only slightly so, with an emphasize on that they were bent -- also the coin finds did not play a too great a role in the movie's dramaturgy)
It also became clear that cavalry forces were involved, pointing towards the find of a horses bones (=2009), it's analysis and a lance-shoe that whas found (nearby ?).
All in all I think it was a "must-see", although most on the informations given semmed to be "2009 vintage". But nevertheless there was a lot of new information in it for me.
I'm seriously thinking about buying the DVD.
Greez
Simplex
Hear ye !
The first shot showed a still of woods in a forrest, very much like some of the pictures in that feature in National Geographic/Germany . ( June 2010)
Well, i said to myself : Hallywoode, here thou comethst.
Boy, was I wrong, as the feature turned into something like a pleasant surprise.
No overly lenghty reenactment sequences with unadequately dressed people like e.g. some of the "roman features" on ZDF-TV with ... well, we've discussed this here enough ...
The short sequences , as far as I got them (some were very short ..) seemed to have done with folks correctly equipped .
The experts "in charge" mostly were Prof. Dr. Günther Moosbauer, University of Osnabrück and Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer, Free University of Berlin, [obviously the people mainly handling excavation/organisation and "data-deriving"]
with a "honourable mention" of Dr. Henning Haßmann, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege ( ~Upper monument authority of Nether Saxonia).
Surprisingly , Dr. Petra Lönne played no role -- or did I overlook some very short scenes ?
Yes, and they also did give credits and ample time "to have their say" to the Excavation Technicians Michael Brangs and Thorsten Schwarz.
Hey: .... and NO contradictionary (and stupid) comments by an "off-scene" "narrator/commenter" like in other dreadful productions about similar topics !
The course of the movie ran somewhat different to my immpressions that I gained from the press-realeases and and press-reports on the Harzhorn.
I think that this is owed to a special dramaturgy which carries the the story of the movie. "Excursions", luckily not overly lenghty also play a role in this course.
My impression is also, that this is not harmful to the subject, --on the contrary !!
(P.S. It starts, probably like in "real life" also, with a private surveyor who found s.th. that he thought was a "candle-holder" -- and turned out to be a hippo-sandal ...)
We learn a lot here about what the people involved in prospection and excavation think, how and why they acted ... that includes informations about modern prospection- and excavation-techniques.
(There ARE some people having fun out there, obviously)
Some tiny aspects were even new to me.
All done quite logic and "organic" --- at least to my impression.
I also gained a lot of informations on the Harzhorn-research. And, yes, pictures DO speak louder than words.
e.g. the close-up on the (broken) germanic spear-tip, where you could clearly see the engraving on it.
They also put emphasize on the meaning of the hobnail-finds for the course of reasoning about the battles' run and outcome.
(The balistae's bolt-tips were also "touched" but only slightly so, with an emphasize on that they were bent -- also the coin finds did not play a too great a role in the movie's dramaturgy)
It also became clear that cavalry forces were involved, pointing towards the find of a horses bones (=2009), it's analysis and a lance-shoe that whas found (nearby ?).
All in all I think it was a "must-see", although most on the informations given semmed to be "2009 vintage". But nevertheless there was a lot of new information in it for me.
I'm seriously thinking about buying the DVD.
Greez
Simplex
Siggi K.
