MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1989)

Cast

Plot

This true story of two contrasting characters, Richard Burton and John Speake, teaming up to find the source of the Nile, is concerned not with the destination but the journey, the narrative being sidetracked by a series of colourful vignettes; a lion attack, the placating of wary tribesmen with swathes of cloth, and a menacing brush with camp Lord Ngola and his scheming advisor. After their first expedition ends in failure they return for two years and find a triumph tinged by betrayal and death. Fabulous photography, both in the sun-baked African vistas and the dark wood tones of the Royal Geographic Society, and this handsome epic has both intelligence and wit.