I first personally saw this doc on TV back not long after it was first produced in the early 90's, and doing some general holiday net surfing this afternoon, was reminded of it again after having not thought about it for quite some time. Since it's available on Amazon Prime Video & I had some time today to watch, I figured I'd check it out. Before I did, I did remember being influenced by it to the degree that I was left feeling pretty skeptical concerning the currently established narrative among orthodox Egyptologists regarding the Great Sphynx... And I still am - something that definitely piqued my interest & prompted me to watch it again.
The doc - narrated by Charlton Heston - starts off on solid, scientific footing. Inconsistencies with respect to traditional ideas about the statue's patterns of erosion are raised, investigated in a rational, scientific fashion and lead to some very unorthodox conclusions concerning both The Great Sphynx' age and origin. This is pretty solid stuff, and could well have been a great example of researchers with the courage to "think outside the box" once again upsetting the apple cart of orthodox historical/scientific thought. However...
With a (then) recently found chamber as a pretext, the film then goes completely off the rails in the last 20 minutes - first citing clairvoyant Edgar Cayce's reference to a hidden chamber which linked it to Atlantis, and then bringing in a "lecture" by pop conspiracy theorist and pseudoscientist (who doesn't have a university degree, let alone even B. Sc.) Richard C. Hoagland. Things then go very quickly from the unorthodox to the absurd, and a critical viewer - who might previously had been quite entertained by some very fresh ideas springing from pretty solid evidence - will be doing a face palm... WTF?? Why'd they go and blow such an interesting hour so thoroughly out of the water in the last 15-20 minutes?
After I pulled my own face from my palm, I was honestly left scratching my head over the decision making process involved with the production here - pretty meticulously building something up over 60 minutes or so, and then tanking it in the last 20? It was almost as though it had been done by two different production teams with pretty divergent ends in mind for the project.
Anyway, notwithstanding that nonsense at the end, it is a very interesting piece of documentary work that should challenge the established beliefs, for those open-minded enough to be challenged, concerning the Great Sphynx... But unfortunately, in the end, also nurture the fantasies of those credulous enough to hold dear purely speculative/imaginative theories that have little to no credible evidence to support them. *Sigh*...
The doc - narrated by Charlton Heston - starts off on solid, scientific footing. Inconsistencies with respect to traditional ideas about the statue's patterns of erosion are raised, investigated in a rational, scientific fashion and lead to some very unorthodox conclusions concerning both The Great Sphynx' age and origin. This is pretty solid stuff, and could well have been a great example of researchers with the courage to "think outside the box" once again upsetting the apple cart of orthodox historical/scientific thought. However...
With a (then) recently found chamber as a pretext, the film then goes completely off the rails in the last 20 minutes - first citing clairvoyant Edgar Cayce's reference to a hidden chamber which linked it to Atlantis, and then bringing in a "lecture" by pop conspiracy theorist and pseudoscientist (who doesn't have a university degree, let alone even B. Sc.) Richard C. Hoagland. Things then go very quickly from the unorthodox to the absurd, and a critical viewer - who might previously had been quite entertained by some very fresh ideas springing from pretty solid evidence - will be doing a face palm... WTF?? Why'd they go and blow such an interesting hour so thoroughly out of the water in the last 15-20 minutes?
After I pulled my own face from my palm, I was honestly left scratching my head over the decision making process involved with the production here - pretty meticulously building something up over 60 minutes or so, and then tanking it in the last 20? It was almost as though it had been done by two different production teams with pretty divergent ends in mind for the project.
Anyway, notwithstanding that nonsense at the end, it is a very interesting piece of documentary work that should challenge the established beliefs, for those open-minded enough to be challenged, concerning the Great Sphynx... But unfortunately, in the end, also nurture the fantasies of those credulous enough to hold dear purely speculative/imaginative theories that have little to no credible evidence to support them. *Sigh*...
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