Details
Movie Description
In director Bob Rafelson's MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, Richard Francis Burton (Patrick Bergin) and John Hanning Speke (Iain Glen), two of history's most remarkable adventurers, set out to Africa in 1854 to find the mysterious source of the Nile River, their expedition supported by the Royal Geographic Society. Their quest is treacherous--the two men face intense hardship in the African wilderness and must confront native tribes that proceed to capture them and hold Burton hostage while torturing him. Back home in England, the treachery continues as Speke turns against Burton, and their friendship dissolves in acrimony. Based on the novel BURTON AND SPEKE by William Harrison, Rafelson's film is a remarkably lush production, largely shot on the actual locations where the events occurred.
Synopsis
MOUNTAIN OF THE MOON, directed by Bob Rafelson, is a portrait of two 19th-century British explorers, Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke, who searched for the source of the Nile, encountering illness, loss of direction, and fierce animosity from African tribes along the way.
Film Notes
Deluxe edition laserdisc, catalog #68915, inlcudes "The Making of Mountains of the Moon."
William Harrison's screenplay for "Mountains of the Moon" and his novel, "Burton and Speke," were based on the journals of explorers Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke.
Film was originally intended to be cast with British rock stars, including David Bowie.
Director Bob Rafelson on his interest in Burton:
"When I studied anthropology, there were references to him as one of the first anthropologists, and when I studied Indian and Arabic literature, as well as erotic literature like 'The Perfumed Garden' and the 'Kama-Sutra,' I came across him as a translator.
"And, after that, during the 1960s, through books like 'The White Nile,' I became aware of him as an explorer. Of course, I do a substantial amount of traveling and I learned a lot about how to do it from him. He would settle with various tribesmen for a period of time and then go on to the next civilization. He was a cultural thief in a way; he could steal what he thought was profound and move on, and I do some of that.
"I think that Burton had a stupefying intelligence and an even more intense, almost insatiable curiosity. I've always had the feeling that his greatest fault was that he was restless in the way great romantics are. He would fix something with his thorough, piercing insight, then he would move on. People feared him; they were uncomfortable with his extraordinary gaze and powerful eyes. If he embraced them and then discarded them, they felt slighted and insulted. He was such an eccentric for those times."
Burton said of his partner Speke that he had, "an almost childlike simplicity of manner which at once attracted attention, he united an immense fund of self-esteem, so carefully concealed, however, that none but his intimates suspected its existence."
Shot in Rank color on location at Lake Victoria in Kenya, on Lamu Island, and in London and Liverpool, England. Filming beg
Industry Reviews
"...An epic of sweep and intimacy....Rousing thrills, startling beauty and searching performances..."
Rolling Stone - p.31 - Peter Travers (02/08/1990)
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