I didn't expect to see an accurate account about a historical figure who lived around 70 to 30 BC since I don't believe anybody can vouch for 100% accuracy of events around that period. After all, "history is written by the victors". Furthermore, I don't depend on movies and TV shows for history lessons. When I crave for accuracy, I turn to academically accepted sources like books. I consider TV documentaries as starting points for further research, to see if the subject matter is interesting enough to spend more time on. So I watched this docuseries just to see how it will try to piece together historical events involving this most intriguing woman.
In this regard, I think this series did an okay job so I was shocked at how critics lambasted a docuseries about an ancient figure for inaccuracy. It seems a lot of reviewers did not approve of the decision to make Cleopatra dark-skinned. Is it a fact that Cleopatra was fair-skinned? Granted, the Ptolemy dynasty started with a Macedonian Greek general. But from Ptolemy I Soter to Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, was there any record of who the mothers were? Is it sure that none of the mothers was dark-skinned?
As for other events shown in the series, is it not true that the Ptolemies married siblings? Didn't she marry her brother Ptolemy XIII then Ptolemy XIV? Didn't she have her brothers and sister Arsinoe killed? Didn't she have an affair with Caesar and have a child with him? Didn't she have an affair with Mark Anthony and have children with him? Didn't she and Octavian engage in a war that she lost? Didn't she commit suicide?
Even if any of these events did not happen, did all of these not happen? Considering how even Oscar-award winning historical movies also have inaccuracies, the harsh treatment this series received is rather too severe.
Having said that, there were some aspects that did turn me off this drama, one of which was the attempt to make it raunchy. I didn't expect to see award-winning acting but the actors looked awkward portraying unnecessary intimate scenes, making such scenes cringey. Nevertheless, the failure to make this another Game of Thrones does not warrant the degree to which this docuseries was flayed.
In this regard, I think this series did an okay job so I was shocked at how critics lambasted a docuseries about an ancient figure for inaccuracy. It seems a lot of reviewers did not approve of the decision to make Cleopatra dark-skinned. Is it a fact that Cleopatra was fair-skinned? Granted, the Ptolemy dynasty started with a Macedonian Greek general. But from Ptolemy I Soter to Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, was there any record of who the mothers were? Is it sure that none of the mothers was dark-skinned?
As for other events shown in the series, is it not true that the Ptolemies married siblings? Didn't she marry her brother Ptolemy XIII then Ptolemy XIV? Didn't she have her brothers and sister Arsinoe killed? Didn't she have an affair with Caesar and have a child with him? Didn't she have an affair with Mark Anthony and have children with him? Didn't she and Octavian engage in a war that she lost? Didn't she commit suicide?
Even if any of these events did not happen, did all of these not happen? Considering how even Oscar-award winning historical movies also have inaccuracies, the harsh treatment this series received is rather too severe.
Having said that, there were some aspects that did turn me off this drama, one of which was the attempt to make it raunchy. I didn't expect to see award-winning acting but the actors looked awkward portraying unnecessary intimate scenes, making such scenes cringey. Nevertheless, the failure to make this another Game of Thrones does not warrant the degree to which this docuseries was flayed.