Les sentinelles du silence

There should be a video or DVD of this masterpiece. It won TWO Oscars, for goodness sake, so it can't be all bad. It combines exciting symphonic music with breathtaking aerial and ground photos of pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Mexico and elsewhere showing the haunting ruins of civilizations that have disappeared. The narrative calmly tells of the Maya and their superior astronomical science that calculated time by solar eclipses, resulting to a calendar more accurate than the one in use today. The Maya also used the number 0 in their mathematics. But what happened to them? Where did they go? The answer, of course, is that they are still here, living among the people of Mexico and Central America (Mexico is in North America in case you forgot). This is a wonderful cultural eye-opener that puts our neighbors in an entirely different light. I am surprised PBS or someone doesn't have this as a regular fixture in some history studies. Americans have too long been fascinated by the accomplishments of ancient Egypt. That is fine, but similar triumphs have occurred in our own back yard and we have all but ignored them. Where do you think the largest pyramid base (the pyramid was not completed) was constructed? It's still there. Sentinels of Silence spans an amazing amount of time, geography and architecture in 18 minutes. It needs to be released in video or disc and get some wider exposure. Its subject, message and images are all timeless.

Over fifty years after this was made, I reckon you'd still struggle to find a better filmed documentary that extolled the amazing constructions from Mexico's ancient past. From as far back at 1200 BC, the Toltecs, Olmecs, Monte Alto and Maya civilisations were erecting pyramid structures hundreds of feet into the sky, with perfect symmetries while constructing complex cities of stone with broad avenues and plazas. What's helped this nation enormously is that even though time has ravaged many of the buildings, the delights of modern day ordnance have not and so even at their most turbulent, the battles and warfare of these tribes wasn't actually able to inflict the degrees of destruction seen in other, similar, sites around the globe. The city of Tenochtitlán is astonishingly well preserved and the aerial photography not only gives us an indication of the sheer scale of the place, but also a look at it's inhospitable location from a logistics perspective. How did they manage to build amidst the dense forest in the first place? Could we even do that now? We are taken on a brief tour of half a dozen amazing archaeological and architectural locations accompanies by a rousing score and some magical use of light and clouds and this really is worth a look as it begs questions about humanity's worship of the sun whilst building pyramids all over a globe by peoples who could share no knowledge of life in Asia or Europe or Africa with each other. Or could they?

This documentary richly deserves every award it has achieved. I have run this film many times in my cinema and always was congratulated on what a stunning film it was. It has the ability (in no small way due to the excellent and, at times, spine-tingling commentary by Orson Welles) to stir the imagination and introduce the viewer to some of the most astounding archaeological ruins on this planet. The camera-work is amazing - the whole film being shot from a helicopter - thus giving the viewer a unique perspective on the ruins. The shot at Tehotuhican travelling along the avenue and then ascending the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun is awesome. I totally agree with the other reviewer that this film should not only be released on DVD but should become part of the study curriculum. This is the sort of factual film that breathes life into archaeology making what could become a dull subject one of intense interest particularly to young students perhaps igniting a passion for knowledge.