Mystery of the Nile

This movie is a marketing video for the expedition leader and a few others, who is immensely self-centered and on top factually wrong on several occasions. The expedition leader claims to be one of "few outsiders" to have ever visited the pyramids in Sudan (yes, not the ones in Egypt), but those pyramids are available for any tourist to visit – and besides "outsider" sounds quite imperialistic for a movie made in 2005. There are researchers, geologists and historians born, living and working in Sudan as well.

The only reason to watch this would be to see some of the footage, which is at times quite good. Especially the flyovers. Be sure to turn off the volume first though so you don't have to hear the narrative (marketing).

Don't waste your time - don't watch this.

This IMAX short film tells the story of following the Blue Nile from Ethiopia to Egypt. It is also the story of past civilizations and how they prospered or suffered because of nature and their own short-sightedness or desperation. Along the way the members of the expedition see kindness and joy in places of conflict like The Sudan. Fear , danger and menace are everywhere from crocodiles to murderous bandits. The team consisting of several men and two women are geologists, archaeologists, reporters and adventurers. A cancer survivor and a "city guy" are part of the group. They face grueling challenges and flirt with danger, disease and death. Through it all they maintain a positive attitude and a real empathy for the people of the Nile and the past civilizations that both cared for and exploited the resources of this river. This is a fantastic, exciting and visually stunning film. It is full of hope and foreboding. It is amazing and inspiring.

Excluding the brief self-promotion of dodgy 'actors', I loved this movie because of its cinematography, still photos and music.

I agree that the "danger" posed did seem to be exaggerated.

And that studio sequence of the guys in Lake Tana did take from the up- until-then live footage.

The music is well-mixed, adding percussion to the best of indigenous voices and sounds (which can be sparse in those regions), giving the documentary an exciting tone.

All in all, well worth getting out on DVD to hear the soundtrack, and see some of the still photos.

The movie tells us very little about the Nile, the focus is aimed towards the expedition crew and their experience. Not really what the title suggested. Imagery is still somewhat pleasant.

Mystery of the Nile is a great movie, great scenery and beautiful photography. Almost to good to be true...

They claim to be a documentary about a real expedition down the Nile. This is not the case. It is a fake, fictional documentary made by actors and mostly shot in a studio. Saskia Lange for instance is no Spanish journalist, but a minor German actress. That's why you only see 5 or so out of 114 expedition days: there has not been an actual expedition! The 'storm on Lake Nasser' scene is a give-away, made in a studio swimming pool. All local scenes are shot in safe, easy to reach tourist spots.

I really dislike the fact that they pretend to be real. It borders a swindle. 5 points for the pretty pictures.