Petra: Secrets of the Ancient Builders (2019) User Reviews

An intelligent documentary about the practical details of how Petra was built and designed.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 December 2020]

The ancient city of Petra is in the middle of the Jordanian desert and it was forgotten about for centuries and only rediscovered in the 19th century. Its remoteness is the reason for it being forgotten....and now it's one of the preeminent destinations for folks wanting to explore the ancient world. Now I've seen a few documentaries on it before but "Petra: Secrets of the Ancient Builders" is different because instead of jut showing the site, like a travelogue, it sets out to try to explain how the city was built as well as how city of 20,000 was able to have water and irrigation in such a dry and seemingly inhospitable place.

Overall, this is a very interesting documentary that is available on Disney+ under the National Geographic label. Well worth seeing and fascinating througout.

Very Well

[kakaxplivebr · 8/10 · 10 July 2023]

Continuing my Disney+ documentary film marathon, this is my fourth documentary I've watched.

I'll watch and comment.

What a beautiful place.

I didn't know this place, had never even heard of it.

Genius the method that was used to sculpt.

It's amazing how the ancestors did things without the technology (supposedly) that we have today.

Wow, it took 200 years to build the Great Temple (it's beautiful).

They even thought against earthquakes.

Brilliant, the way they found to get water, they were even treated, and still managed to get potable water out, congratulations to the ancestors.

They even had a spa.

Conclusion: Impressive, of the four documentaries I watched in this marathon so far, this was the most spectacular, I didn't know this place, I thought it was wonderful, the past is very mysterious. People have always been very smart.

Fascinating

[Trentster · 7/10 · 3 August 2021]

Found this documentary from Disney+ and it was such an amazing overview of Petra.

camerawork and music driving me crazy

[happy_quadruped · 2/10 · 25 August 2023]

I tried watching this, but the camerawork in particular is driving me crazy. It makes me nauseous how they continually speed up and slow down the shot, and it also prevents me from looking at what they're talking about. The music is also over the top. It's basically like playing a really bad video game.

I also question the editing for another reason - the audio said a particular building (Al Khazneh) was a treasury, but then the text on screen said it was a sanctuary and tombstone.

I just think a documentary deserves more thought and care than this - you can't just force it to be a cool doc with a bunch of cheap tricks.