Building the Great Pyramid

Naturally, it has been over a decade since this production and history changes. However, if you have not been keeping up with history this is a good production.

The BBC story of building the great pyramid as told by Nakht (a fictional conscript). It is beautifully told. This is a visually stunning reenactment of what it must have been like to have lived and worked at the time. We follow his story from the time he was a child, being told that he owed everything to the king. Then the day he was conscripted and his journey to Gaze where he embarked on a journey through life. There is no space alien speculation or secret powers.

There is really no time for any in-depth Egyptology, but the story will hold your attention and is worth re-watching.

Not quite documentary, not quite drama, this reenactment of a fictional conscript's life building the Great Pyramid of Giza is best described as docudrama. Omar Sharif voices the thoughts of the aged Nakht remembering the moment Egyptian soldiers drafted him into the king's service. The 57-minute film re-creates the boat trip up the Nile and his ascent through the ranks, from delivering water to helping haul 2.5-ton blocks up ramps for the king's tomb. Interspersed are narrator Michael Pennington's historical assertions, along with contrasting footage of what the pyramid looks like today. Pennington's comments are not substantiated during the film, although a list of academic and museum consultants is part of the credits. Almost as interesting as the actual film is the DVD's 14-minute making-of featurette, which explains what shots were real, what were visual effects, and how they used a real Egyptian village to stand in for Giza, now a well-developed suburb.