Atlantis: Birth of a Legend
Now I love me some historical docudramas with goofy recreations, but it's taken me a while to post my observations and reaction to this particular, Minoan-themed BBC docudrama, mostly because I'm not sure what to make of it. BBC has done some superb docudramas on ancient events, most notably 2003's Pompeii: The Last Day, but Atlantis as it aired here in the U.S. is not one of them.
I mention Pompeii: TLD here because it's a suitable basis for comparison with Atlantis. Both cover the circumstances surrounding a cataclysmic Plinian eruption, but one (Pompeii) is better documented than the other; historians and archaeologists can't even agree on a date for the Thera eruption. We know the names of people caught up in the Vesuvius eruption of A.D. 79. We have their physical remains, their graffiti, their houses. We have an eyewitness report from Pliny the Younger, who is portrayed in the docudrama along with his uncle, Pliny the Elder. It's therefore easier to construct a compelling narrative for the phases of the Vesuvius eruption.
Thera, on the other hand, has left no eyewitness accounts, no personal stories, and no human remains, although Christos Doumas, head of the excavations at Akrotiri, believes that victims of the eruption might yet be found in the vicinity, as victims of Herculaneum were found in a series of boathouses in the early 1980's. Did anyone survive who lived on Thera? It's impossible to know. I suspect very few did; those who escaped early to surrounding islands or the north coast of Crete might have been caught up in the volcano's pyroclastic surge clouds or the tidal waves generated by the collapse of the caldera.
It's a real shame to have to report the recent news that the reconstruction work at Akrotiri has ended after 47 years due to lack of funds. If future excavations ever do reveal the presence of human victims, it may not be in our lifetime.
So what do we have in terms of narrative for Atlantis: Birth of a Legend? First, a disclaimer: I suspect the U.S. version might have been truncated for advertisement space; European readers will have to fill me in.
We have apprentice bull-leaper Yishharu (Reese Ritchie, looking appropriately Minoan) who's just brought home a Cretan bride, Pinaruti (Stephanie Leonidas, also looking very Minoan and lovely). Why Yishharu had to go all the way to Crete for a bride, I have no clue; the dialogue between the newlyweds is rather insipid, and we see very little of the family dynamics. Yish and Pinaruti have a nice scene aboard a fishing vessel in the middle of the bay, but it's shortly interrupted by Terry O'Quinn's annoying narration as dead fish start bubbling to the surface. Really, Terry, the audience can put two and two together and figure out that the ominously smoking, rumbling mountain on Palea Kameni is responsible for the fish dying off. In fact, the narration is the docudrama's primary weakness. If you don't know how the Minoans conducted their sacrifices, then shut up, Terry, and don't interrupt to tell us that you don't know. Strong enough writing would allow the Minoans to tell their own story.
The writing for Pompeii: TLD was brilliant. Not so, here. How do I know Yish is an apprentice bull-leaper rather than a fully vested one? I had to read his character description over at IMDB. What entails a bull leaper's apprenticeship? The bull leaping sequence toward the beginning is very well filmed, and probably close to how the sport was actually performed. I would have liked a little more. Were the people of Akrotiri staging the bull leaping to calm Poseidon and stop the rumbling of the island? A few lines of dialogue would have clarified that.
In addition, why would anyone hold Pinaruti's Cretan-ness against her? Was there some Theran prejudice against Cretans? Will people in Akrotiri assume she's snobbish because she's from Knossos? Why does she bring a gift of Knossian saffron to the priestess of Akrotiri? What's behind that weird women's ritual at the beginning? Again, writers! A few lines of dialogue, that's all I ask!
I have to mention the CGI here. It's very dark and muddy and blurry. Yes, I realize that the skies of Thera are hazy due to volcanic outgassing, but not quite so much toward the beginning. Where's the color and splendor of Minoan Thera? The wide open windows, the frescoes, the life of the town? Why are there only six people (i.e. the cast) shown in the stands watching the bull leaping? I swear there are only twenty-five people in all of Akrotiri, maybe one street, and one ship left. If people have been quietly leaving, why doesn't somebody (the priestess Bansabira, Rusa, somebody) mention this? Yet again, you lazy writers! Better dialogue!
What did I like? The costumes. Pinaruti's outfit in particular (below) is gorgeous. I can tell it's inspired by the images on the saffron gathering frescoes. Naturally, the BBC isn't about to let the women go bare-breasted in the religious scenes, so that explains the women being covered up. I liked what I got to see of Akrotiri.
What did I not like? The bad CGI, the weak writing, the narration. I hear that Tom Conti narrates the original version; maybe he's better. But if you're going to interrupt the story, have a good reason for doing so. Show us artifacts from the Akrotiri excavation that appear in the program (as Pompeii: LTD did with the poison vial found with the young man), or a fresco depicting a scene recreated for the program. At the end, show us more of the devastation of the Minoan world than Pinaruti stumbling away from the wreckage of the ship.
The junior priestesses are depicted wearing this costume (all bosoms covered, of course). I doubt very much that their scarf-waving dance is all that authentic.
