Netflix documentary 'Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb' reviewed by TheGuardian

[FfFfFfFF 58,071]

The “secrets” here are in fact well known, having made headline news across the world: the discovery in the Saqqara necropolis, just outside Cairo, of scores of mummified animals, including a lion cub, and an untouched tomb from the 25th century BC.

But what makes this an exceptional documentary is the focus on the entirely Egyptian archaeological team, doing their bit in a quiet way to decolonise Egyptology and to demonstrate the emotional connection between the locals and the ancient civilisation they are unearthing.

The documentary asserts Egyptian ownership of the country’s heritage rather well, if you filter out the somewhat superfluous race-against-time narrative that has been added over the top. Much more effective are the meditative interviews the film-makers conduct across the whole team, from the excavation director to the anthropologist working on skeletal reassembly to the digger’s foreman. The interviewees are introduced only by their first names, a slightly patronising move which means it takes some disentangling to find out that they are in fact world experts in their fields.

Source - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/30/secrets-of-the-saqqara-tomb-review?