Land of the black sun
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Land of the black sun |
| Original title | Mountains of the Moon |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 126 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bob Rafelson |
| script | William Harrison |
| production |
Mario Kassar , Daniel Melnick , Andrew G. Vajna |
| music | Michael Small |
| camera | Roger Deakins |
| cut | Thom Noble |
| occupation | |
| |
Land of the Black Sun (Original Title: Mountains of the Moon ) is an American adventure film from 1990 . Directed by Bob Rafelson , who wrote the script together with William Harrison based on his book Burton and Speke .
action
The action takes place in the middle of the 19th century. Richard Francis Burton travels to East Africa and, together with John Hanning Speke, goes on a search for the sources of the Nile . The rigors of the journey create a friendship between the two different characters. After more than a year, the expedition discovered two large lakes near an Arab trading post, which may be the source of the Nile. Back in England friendship turns into enmity, and the conflict over the springs of the Nile is to be resolved in royal geographic society. Speke, realizing his mistakes, commits suicide. Burton goes on further trips.
Reviews
Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times of March 23, 1990 that the film shows less adventure and action, but rather the personalities of the protagonists. The costumes and the other "unobtrusive" details are correct. The film tells its story soberly, intelligently and in a calm style; he is "completely captivating" .
The lexicon of international films wrote that the film offered an “elaborate, exciting and technically very remarkable adventure story with good performance as an actor” and was based on Burton's diaries. There are "some concessions to the common genre clichés and some ostensible hardships" , but he still represents "a simple but obvious parable of the fragility of human ties" .
Deviations from the historical event
In the film, the expedition is forcibly held captive by a village king, and Speke sets out from there to discover Lake Victoria. In history, Speke discovered Lake Victoria on the way back when the expedition stopped in Kazeh. Nothing is known of the incident with the village king.
Awards
Iain Glen received the Evening Standard British Film Award in 1991 .
backgrounds
The film was shot in Liverpool , London and Kenya . It grossed approximately $ 4 million in US cinemas .
Web links
- Mountains of the Moon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mountains of the Moon at Rotten Tomatoes (English)