Greece: Secrets of the Past (2006)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A lot of fun.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This film is meant to be shown in IMAX theaters, and for that it's great. A series of pretty, high-definition shots of Greece with some factoids sprinkled - all to a beautiful soundtrack.But outside of the IMAX theater there's no reason to watch. The information presented doesn't cover any topic meaningfully, and won't be helpful to either Greek history buffs or to anyone new to Greek history.

The one new piece of information the film presents is that it was in the year 1646 BCE that the Santorini island volcano erupted. The date was discovered from the volcano's chemical signatures found in Greenland ice cores. The eruption covered the town with 100 feet of pumice, preserving its remains, including pictures of period boats and people.The second, longer part of the film is of Athens, circa 432 BCE. The filmmakers reconstruct the Parthenon with computer graphics. Its Athena statue, 40 feet tall of gold and ivory, was more costly than the building.Filmed in autumn with a north wind, the pictures show Athens with rare visibility (smog-free).It's a Macgillivray-Freeman film. Well done. macgillivrayfreemanfilms.com/site/our-films/film-libraryA more comprehensive movie about the golden age of Athens is "Empires: The Greeks - Crucible of Civilization," imdb.com/title/tt0239018/reviews-3There's more on the Parthenon in the 2008 Nova episode, Secrets of the Parthenon, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1240284/ including how it was built and how it's being maintained.

This is what I selected to do for Father's Day, and I'm sorry to say it was a disappointing choice. Of course, I now want to visit Santorini more than ever, but if you've read Unearthing Atlantis by Charles Pellegrino, be advised that there's nothing new here and what there is (of Santorini) is precious little. There's more to see in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. As documentaries go, it's travelogue-lite. I can only guess that the producers somehow did not want to burden the audience with too many facts and details. That, or there just isn't much file footage of Prof. Marinatos' work at Thera. Maybe it's the expense of Imax type presentations, and they lacked the budget that someone like James Cameron (a friend of Pellegrino) might allow. I;m not sure, but as the father of two documentary filmmakers, I've enjoyed better Father's Days.

Viewed at San Diego Cinema Society event. This is an archaeological film with a little geology and mineralogy thrown in. It tells how an evolving Bronze Age culture on the island of Santorini off Greece was being explored along with how they dated the volcanic eruption which wiped out the bronze age community from Greenland ice cores. It also seems reasonable to me that it may be the real site of the mythical Atlantis. It then went on to some discussion of how Greek archeology is being studied in much the same way through scientific reconstruction aided by computer graphics. Scenery includes terrific aerial views over archaeological sites and one brief but spectacular satellite view. A very nice film.