Sat, Jan 29, 2005
A surprisingly good documentary, made in a time when the BBC was still a label for quality. Looking for a solution to the riddle about the death of Ivan the terrible, this TV-movie gives also an almost nostalgic look at Moscow at the beginning of the 1990s, richly supplemented with nice image work about this legendary city. Unfortunately the DVD gives at end credits not on who was responsible for the acted film fragments added to the documentary. These are Russian spoken (not subtitled), so this is probably a Russian cinematographic production. The film fragments and documentary images are nicely balanced, and the music in the background is equally good. That makes the whole thing just pleasant to look at. But the most important is that you gradually get a better look on the history of Russia and the power struggle of the first Tsar against the Boyars and how Tsar Boris Godunov, as second, finally could take over the power. A pearl for who are interested in history. (M)
Sat, Apr 2, 2005
Striking suddenly, a killer wave of water struck the counties of the Bristol Channel on 30 January 1607. The flooding stretched as far as the Glastonbury Tor 14 miles inland, and inundated two hundred square miles of Somerset, Devon, Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. 'Timewatch' follows the research of two scientists, Professor Simon Haslett from Bath Spa University and Australian geologist Ted Bryant from the University of Wollongong, who are increasingly convinced that the killer wave was not simply a freak storm but a rare British tsunami.
Fri, Nov 11, 2005
Thirty years ago, Communist Cambodian leader Pol Pot set about establishing a nation of people living to serve the state. He insisted that anything private, right down to his subjects' thoughts and emotions, were immoral. When Pol Pot's plan to increase rice production failed, he declared it was due to enemies within the party. Thus began the purge of some of Pol Pot's most devoted followers and their families. Almost two million people were brutally tortured and executed in the killing fields of Cambodia, a quarter of the country's population in less than four years. Exceptional for a revealing interview with Nuon Chea ("Brother Number Two"), the former deputy to Pol Pot who admitted partial responsibility and expressed willingness to go before a United Nations tribunal to be questioned, this British Documentary Award nominee was noted for its interviews of both survivors and former leaders within the Khmer Rouge.