Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In class we watched a movie called "Mountains of The Moon." It was a very interesting movie to see due to all the violence and action and sheer confusion I got when I saw Richard Burton live a spear right to the face. This movie showed a great example of Imperialism because Richard Burton and John Speke were on a mission to find the source of the Nile River. On their way they met natives of Africa and had various fights with some of them. One of the most important scenes in the movie featured Burton showing the Ruler of a village a gun. He found it very interesting and decided to shoot it at someone all of the natives were terrified of the object. They faced other hardships such as the way they were going to the source. The land they walked on was not the best thing to walk on in the heat. One of the most disturbing things that happened was when John Speke had a beetle go into his ear it was a very disturbing and painful scene to watch. Also some of the people that were helping Burton and Speke decided to desert them and take some supplies with them. 

When Speke had claimed he had found the source of the Nile River some problems between him and Burton came up and this led to a trial decide this. In the end Speke ended up taking himself out of the picture by killing himself. Burton had decided to not continue saying his side of the trial for he was in the shadow of John's death. Speke was indeed right when he claimed Lake Victoria, which was soon to be named, was the actual source of the gigantic river known as the Nile. The odd thing about the name of the lake is that why a lake in Africa would be named after a queen from England? Well it’s probably due to the fact that the people, who went out of their way to find and name it, were Europeans even more into detail of English decent. Though it’s in Africa the natives there are too uneducated or even carefree as to even name their territory. Imperialism was basically a system and this movie showed a great example of that. The Europeans came educated the Natives of Africa and taught them a more civilized lifestyle. Overall it was a more industrial move for them.  

This movie was a great way to show the Europeans would dominate over the Natives. This may be a weird way to state this but when Burton survived the spear to the face it was a foreshadowing of how dominant a gun is compared to simple tools made form nature like spears and shields. In a fight between people with spears and people with gun the answer is obvious. The guns are more advanced and therefore will easily take down the person coming at you with a spear. It is also sign of showing how the Europeans wouldn't stop till they got what they wanted, which is both the land and for the people of Africa to live a more courteous and kind natured lifestyle. The part where Speke was showing the Native how to pour tea was an example of this for he was showing him how to do something the right way. The will of Speke and Burton to journey across the Africa was a rough one but in the end after many hardships, fights and emotions their mission was complete into finding the source of the Nile River.