Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a better than average educational video. It provides good background information on the culture of the Anglo- Saxons and the context of the Beowulf epic. Its best features are the recreations, the footage of the Sutton Hoo site and some of its treasures, and the actual recitation of some of the poem in the Old English ( very interesting to hear). The lecture that makes up the bulk of the narrative is of the type you might expect were you to attend a seminar at the Sutton Hoo site or some similar History for amateur enthusiast's event, but it is just enough material for a student starting to study this period or the poem. The only drawback is that the production company was obviously short on funds and towards the final third of the hour+ production, the visuals start to repeat- we see the same spinning helmet, the same burning lake, the same warriors tipping back the drinking horn once again-this is where my kids start laughing and go back to reading another book while I tell them to hang in there the material is worth it. But then, this isn't New Line Cinema, so you have to adjust your expectations. One especially good extra is the re-enactment segment. A representative of the society describes their efforts to rebuild a 10th C. Saxon Hall and this is very interesting and enough to tempt you to consider a trip across the pond to see it! All in all I would say this is worth your time- there isn't much out there on the subject and if nothing else will inspire the history/literature minded student to dig deeper!
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Miraculously preserved over the centuries, its artisticimportance was unrecognized until an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord ofthe Rings) revealed its unity and multi-dimensional structure. Beowulf isnow regarded as the most important manuscript the Anglo-Saxons have handeddown to us, of immense linguistic as well as poetic value.This programsets out to trace the origins of the tribes that brought this epic intobeing, the war-like Norsemen from Sweden, Denmark and Germany who were toconquer and settle regions of a more clement and fertile island that wouldbecome known as England, named after the tribe of the Angles. Using 3-Danimation, location footage, archive materials and interviews, the Beowulfepic is examined in the light of the civilization that created it. Itinvestigates their religious beliefs as well as their everyday life, andsuggests that, old as the poem is, it may have roots in an even moreancient fertility cult.
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