Nothing like hitting the end of the month and realizing you forgot to make this post. Also, I’m going to use the lame excuse that February only has 28 days, so it’s February’s fault for this being late. Or something. I mean is the orange guy can use lame-ass excuses, I can, too. Right?
Here are the documentaries I watched this month.
Relics of Egypt: The Grand Egyptian Museum
This was the coolest documentary I watched this month. I’m sure it has nothing to do with my anticipated visit in 2027 or that I have loved Egyptology forever or that I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt.
Set within the shadow of the iconic pyramids, The Grand Egyptian Museum is a marvel in itself. Around 5,000 workers show up daily at the museum dedicated to preserving archaeological history and teaching the world about the past.
The museum is 800 meters long, 40 meters high and was sprung in the heart of the desert, where its design blends in with the surrounding scenery. The documentary uses illustrated archives, 3D recreations, and modern video to show how the world’s biggest construction site became the marvel which must be seen.
The new museum houses the King Tut galleries, which are 7,000 square meters in size. It even asks if there wasn’t a little curse of the pharaohs because of pitfalls during its construction. One of the façades caught fire during Arab Spring. In 2019, construction halted because of attacks near the pyramids and, in 2020, COVID caused more delays.
One place the public cannot go, which makes this documentary worthwhile in itself is the Conservation Center. It works with 3,000-6,000 year old artifacts. It was built underground for environmental stability and houses 17 labs. It was purposely built more than 30 meters below the sand to ensure optimal temperatures and to protect the artifacts from potential earthquakes.
Of the 47,000 artifacts they have restored to far, 20,000 have never been seen by the world before. All future Egyptian finds will be sent here before they move on to their final destinations.
The Conservation Center is 22,000 square meters, of which 7,000 is for the restoration labs.
The entire museum took 20 years to complete and, according to the documentary, “embodies the excess and the delusions of grandeur that were once the prerogative of the Egyptian pharaohs.
In all, it cost €1 billion and 60,000 workers in total to create the museum. There are 130,000 works on display, including all 5,500 pieces of King Tut’s treasure, which is gathered together for the first time.
You can watch the full video online at Daily Motion and YouTube.
Murder in Monaco was an okay documentary. That is quite sad because Netflix had a tremendous story to work with and dropped the ball.
The documentary is about billionaire banker Edmond Safra, who along with his nurse, was asphyxiated in his saferoom in his his Monaco penthouse in 1999. It follows the typical American-style of storytelling by going through the several twists of “maybe this person did it, or maybe it was that person.” I tire of that kind of storytelling quickly.
They did get Ted Maher, the nurse who was convicted of starting the fire that killed Safra, to talk on camera. The truth is, we still don’t really know who is to blame for Safra’s death.
Personally, I had always felt Maher was a bit of a fall guy, especially after I read Bill Browder’s Red Notice. It’s my opinion as well, that we will never truly know what happened. Maher is also a shady as hell person, so it’s hard to also feel sorry for him.
At first, Maher was depicted as a hero, then the villain. He confessed so that was that. Except the confession was in French and Maher only spoke English. And he escaped from the local jail. There’s also a Russian connection with Safra telling authorities about money laundering through his bank by Russian oligarchs. With all the little side trails, I can see why Netflix stuck to the standard American-style documentary, but it kind of pissed me off.
If you know nothing about Safra, give it a watch. Otherwise, maybe skip it and read a summary of the case. The documentary doesn’t provide anything new.
Murder in Monaco can be seen on Netflix.
In August 2017, in the lead-up to national elections, Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became New Zealand’s opposition party leader. She had just turned 37. Two frenetic months later, she was Prime Minister. Just before the final vote was in, she discovered she was pregnant. She would become only the second head of state in history to give birth while in office.
Ardern quickly became one of the most recognizable leaders in the world. She drew global attention from people craving a sensitive and compassionate approach to the critical issues of our time. In private, she struggled with being a mother and proving herself to a public skeptical of women’s leadership. A series of crises – the Christchurch massacre, pandemic lockdowns, and disinformation-fueled protests outside Parliament – would test that leadership and the feminine touch she brought to it. She resigned from office in January 2023, shocking her supporters and critics alike.
The documentary takes you behind the scenes of her administration and her private life. It’s a look into the private life of a politician, good and bad as well as an unfiltered look at her public life.
When she spoke about the release of bodies from the Christchurch mosque shootings, she said, “Tell people what you know, even if it’s hard, tell people.” This is true is all harrowing situations. We can’t stop horror if we don’t talk about it.
She was also struck by the way people reacted to what she thought was normal.
I still find it hard to comprehend that you could have…that there could be so many people who died and that people would thank you. It just makes me feel incredibly sad. People shouldn’t have to thank you for a humane response, it should be your expectation.
Near the end of the documentary, which I highly recommend, she spoke about optimism.
Shackleton had this saying: Optimism has this true moral courage. That’s it. It’s a state of mind that helps motivate, that helps you to push through.
I always got the sense that we would treat people who would describe themselves in that way as if they’re naive, as if they’re dreamers.
Optimism is not naivety. It’s hope. We have war raging. The ongoing challenge and threat of climate change; Rapid technological development; that it’s hard not to switch on the news some days and just think the world is a dumpster fire. How do we shine a light on the humanity that I know is still there in amongst everything else? That’s what keeps me going, anyway.
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
This is a four-part series on one of the most despicable figures of the modern era. I made it about 20 minutes into the series before I had to turn it off.
The series debuted in 2020. Six years later, I still can’t. It’s too sickening and harrowing for me.
IMDB gives it a 7.1 out of 10 rating. Rotten Tomatoes rates it slightly lower. It’s on Netflix if you want to watch it.
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