Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Greece: Secrets of the Past (2006)

This is topic Greece: Secrets of the Past (2006) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 06-08-2006, 04:20 AM:

MacGillivray Freeman Films' latest IMAX movie about the history and culture of Greece, attributing to the ancients the origins of things like art, thought, and democracy ... basically, what it means to be human, as the filmmakers put it. Narrated by that My Big Fat Greek Wedding woman, whatever her name was, since I never saw that movie.

We were rented for a pair of shows, both filled to capacity, and they were introduced by director Greg MacGillivray, with a few words also by composer Steve Wood.

The music in the film is gorgeous; very thematic and epic-sounding. I always enjoy the scores to these films. (In fact, I walked away with a complimentary copy of the soundtrack.)

The visuals are stunning, as always is the case with these films. The whole film had a faded, yellowed-out look to it. No stark whites, which gave it a subtle warmth. The highlights of the film, as the filmmakers surely intended them to be, were the two CGI sequences. The first was a recreation of the volcanic eruption that buried ancient Greece in ash. Two long shots show the heavy clouds surging toward the camera in an impressive landscape, rendered with the full resolution of the frame, interspersed with other short cuts of lava spurts and other things that may as well have been stock footage clips. The second highlight was the recreation of the Parthenon. Live action fly-by turns to CG wireframe, fades back to live action, CG elements superimpose on existing columns, and keep building it to its full glory. Camera flies in entrance and up to and around a very large and colorful rendering of the 40-foot statue of Athena which was originally housed in the Parthenon. A cool sequence, I thought.

If you've seen a handful of these IMAX documentaries (especially the MacG.-F. ones, which tend to be the better ones), then this one is really nothing new or groundbreaking, other than the subject matter itself.

If you've got the chance to view this in a school field trip or something, then ... well, okay, you may be bored for 46 minutes. That's what field trips are for.