Lost Kingdoms Of Africa: The Great Zimbabwe Movie Review Sample

In this documentary film, Art historian Gus Casely-Hayford travels to Africa to explore the fascinating history of the great kingdom of Zimbabwe. Produced by BBC in 2010, Great Zimbabwe is the third season of the Lost Kingdoms of Africa documentaries, which were being aired by BBC Four. Directed by Sarah Howitt and Ian Lilley, the film has a runtime of 51 minutes, with the narration part solely done by Gus Casely-Hayford. Casely is among the many historians, archaeologists and researchers of the recent past who have devoted their efforts to unravel the history of Africa and its incredible preserved treasures that most of the previous historians failed to expound on. He goes to Zimbabwe to try and search the roots of this great kingdom that he considers was created with the highest level of ingenuity considering the fact that there was no civilization in the ancient Zimbabwe kingdom. Casely-Hayford traces the trade of gold and other precious goods that used to sustain this kingdom and also narrates about the kingdoms that grew around it.
This documentary begins with Casely-Hayford reporting that, in the year 1871, European explorers stumbled on a ruin city which was built of stones and a sophisticated form of architecture. He calls it the city made of gold, wealth and trade. The close proximity to the Indian Ocean opened Zimbabwe Kingdom to traders from India, Arabia, China and to other overseas Sailors that desired to trade gold and ivory which were in immense quantities. With the help of Felix Chame, a world renowned archaeologist and professor from the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, they cross the Rufiji River after which Felix shows him his latest discovery of where a trading town called Rhapta, a market which he estimates was very vibrant around the year 11AD to 1300AD for the people of this kingdom. He shows pieces of pottery which he claims are almost 2000 years. According to Felix Chame, Rhapta was the market place where Indians and Arabians came to barter trade ivory, tortoise shells and rhinoceros skins from the Zimbabweans in the exchange of weapons such as daggers, jewelleries and glass.
The film becomes more interesting when Casely-Hayford is shown around the mosque of Kilwa (1300 AD) by a British archaeologist Stephanie Wynne- Jones and they compare the dates at which these magnificent structures were being built only to realise that they were being built at the same period as most of the structures in England such as the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris among many others. He crosses from Tanzania 1500km across Mozambique to trace the gold trading routes used by traders to and fro Zimbabwe. In a South African museum of Pretoria, Casely-Hayford is shown the large amounts of gold that were recovered from the graves of the ancient rulers of the Mapungupwe kingdom in the border of South Africa and Zimbabwe. He eventually reaches the great Zimbabwe, after being granted permission from the village elders of this great kingdom, he gained entrance to the capital and cradle of most of the descendants surrounding region. The ruins at the great Zimbabwe are truly stunning pieces of architecture, the walls, are very high; 11 metres tall and it is estimated that more than 1 million bricks were used to build the wall surrounding this kingdom.
Unlike the modern Zimbabwe, which is characterized by insane levels of inflation and poverty, the ancient Zimbabwe was arguably the richest kingdom in Africa. It was the epitome of wealth and business. This documentary clearly shows the immense levels of wealth and architectural prowess that the ancient people of the great kingdom of Zimbabwe possessed.