Toutankhamon, le trésor redécouvert

This documentary takes a new look at the many remarkable objects found in king Tutankhamun's tomb. By now new scientific findings have resulted in a better understanding of Tutankhamun's life and times, just as they have resulted in a better understanding of his place in the family tree and the fate of his dynasty. (It turns out that his era may have been even more unnerving than suspected. If you think you've got problems : be very, very happy that you avoided being born in or around pharaoh Akhenaton's time period.) The documentary also pays ample attention to ancient funeral rites and to the erection of graves and pyramids.

Quite a lot of the superb objects found in the tomb were originally made for another sovereign, probably an older sister who reigned, briefly, as a female ruler. The said female ruler has pretty much disappeared from the history books ; it is possible that some of her successors conspired at the erasure of her name, because they were embarrassed by her beliefs and/or gender.

"Le trésor redécouvert" is a well-made documentary that combines learned comment, photographic evidence from the time of the discovery, in-depth looks at various works of art and computer animation reconstructions. At the same time the documentary raises some interesting questions about the strangely porous borders between archaeology and grave robbing or between the art trade and smuggling : sadly enough, it turns out that even respected explorers find it difficult to resist temptation.

Impossible as it seems, the documentary has succeeded in adding a new horror to death, to wit the fear that future scientists will take an extremely close look at your most intimate items of underwear. And then they'll share their findings with millions of viewers all over the world - yippee !