Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 9780790787084 Format: DVD-Video, NTSC ISBN: 0790787083 Label: BBC Video Manufacturer: BBC Video Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: BBC Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 17, 2004 Running Time: 325 minutes Sales Rank: 39255 Studio: BBC Video Theatrical Release Date: 1987
Product Description: For 800 years a proud vibrant richly imaginative warrior people swept ruthlessly across Europe. The ancient Greeks called them 'Keltoi' and honored them as one of the great barbarian races. Follow their fascinating story from their earliest roots 2500 years ago through the flowering of their unique culture and their enduring heritage today enhanced with stunning reconstructions of iron-age villages dramatizations of major historical events and visits to modern Celtic lands. This fascinating look back at the legends and legacy of the Celtic heritage is underscored by the hauntingly beautiful music of Enya.Running Time: 325 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 794051191823
Amazon.com: The Celts gave Enya her first popular showcase, but there's far more to this epic documentary series than lushly ethereal music. Produced by BBC Scotland in 1987, the six-part, six-hour series shows its age with simple graphics and visual design, but writer-narrator Frank Delaney compensates with thorough scholarship and engaging presentation. 'The Man with the Golden Shoes' begins with the Celts' earliest origins in Austria, studying burial remains to reveal a fiercely independent people, driven to expansion and exploration but failing to unite against the dominant forces of Rome. Subsequent episodes follow a categorical approach to Celtic history: 'The Rise of Nations' in the British Isles leads to Celtic strongholds in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany; 'A Pagan Trinity' surveys Celtic mythology and the transition (through cultural cross-pollination) from Druid priesthoods to Celtic-influenced Christian missionaries; 'The Open-Ended Curve' illuminates the development of Celtic art, music, and literature; 'The Final Conflict' explores the fading, and subsequent revival, of Celtic languages, and how this history is reflected in present-day (and often erroneous) definitions of 'Celtic'; and 'The Legacy' examines the tenacious efforts to preserve Celtic language and culture in modern society.
Delaney and director David Richardson occasionally misfire with pointless dramatizations (including a Celtic history teacher droning monotonously to his bored students), but period re-creations and archaeological studies prove consistently fascinating, and the sheer volume of information is sure to reward multiple viewings. Vintage BBC films serve as welcome bonus features, including a musical survey of Ireland, a news feature on international Celtic connections, and interviews and performances by Enya at the dawn of her phenomenal solo career. While dispelling myths to reveal the truth behind 2,500 years of history, The Celts is must-see viewing for anyone interested in this fascinating cultural heritage. --Jeff Shannon
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Best Celtic Documentary
There is no better general documentary on the Celts. Period. The early music of Enya makes it even better as the idea of a Celtic culture is explored and questioned. Is there still a "Celtic" way of looking at the world? This documentary gives us the basic history and follows the shift across Europe of the Celtic peoples and the remnant of their language. A must see if you have any interest in the history of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany.
Rating: - English View of Celtic People
I've watched this several times and have become more annoyed each time. Clearly the assembled "scholars" are upper class English snobs, being served tea in one scene by an obedient butler. The tone is one of condescension toward peoples of Celtic origin, not only toward the Irish and Scottish, but also toward American Irish immigrants, who are depicted as coming all the way to America to live in tenements! Hardly so; the Irish and Scots have thrived in America, which says something about the effect of their subjugation by the English. I was particularly annoyed by a small song segment by a purported Scottish rock singer (not the Enya material -- that was superb). This group was dressed up in ridiculous "Scottish garb" to supposedly fulfill the American market for cheap entertainment and simple stereotypes. Not only was this music awful but I suspect it was manufactured for the "documentary." What finally really ... Read More
Rating: - I'm sorry...
but I can't agree with the others. This documentary started strong with the history and reenactments. Then went off into boring tangents like "modern celts" with scenes of people dancing in clubs and the like. The narrator is boring often talking endlessly, standing on some historical spot. I was waiting for Monty Python to come running through at any moment with a gag. I had to stop the dvd half way through out of sheer boredom. I would have loved to have seen more engrossing history, more reenactments, and less long-winded dry speeches in which I didn't learn much of anything.
Rating: - what history programming should be
As a gift, I received the BBC series on British history by Simon Schama a few years back, and can't get enough. I have searched a long time to find anything of comparable quality. Everything I viewed was seriously disappointing, until I found this one. It does not talk down to me, or present history with the sensationalism of America's Most Wanted (which seems to be par for the course at The History Channel and increasingly PBS as well). I learned a great deal, and will be able to learn much more as I watch it again and again. I only wish I could find more BBC-produced histories, as they seem the only ones capable of doing it right.
Digital
Life Shop
David Richardson (IV) items subject to availability. Some restrictions
may apply. DVD
The Celts - Rich Traditions & Ancient Myths presented by digi2005.com Digi2005.com is
an Amazon.com
Associate
Digital Life Music News:
Leave a Comment - Popsugar
Marc by Marc Jacobs Juicy Couture Chloe Betsey Johnson Christian Dior Alice and Olivia Tory Burch Fendi Nanette Lepore L.A.M.B. John Mayer Only Has Eyes For Jennifer Aniston Sugar Shout Out: Who Would Play Steve Jobs? Britney's Not Back on the Radar ...
more News
- Best Celtic Documentary
- English View of Celtic People
- I'm sorry...
