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Great Festivals
Compiled from the ABC TV Series Pilot
Guides, comes an interesting documentary about some of the world's
greatest festivals from this little blue planet. Best of all, this
collection is a holistic experience from ancient festivals that date
back hundreds of years to more modern journeys such as the Notting Hill
Carnival. From food to spirits and everything in between, this is
definitely a culture shock... in a good way.
Running at just over 150 minutes, Great
Festivals is quite a laid back documentary series that is a mirrors the
excellent Lonely Planet series from its visual cues to the excellent
presenters. The episodes are uniquely labelled "Great Festivals 1, 2 &
3" and traverses the globe without any thought. This is not a bad thing
as it keeps the episodes quite fresh and interesting as it highlights a
variety of countries, races and cultures.
The series is broken up into the following
episodes;
Great Festivals 1
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Papa New Guinea ancient tribal rituals
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American Postmodern Pagan Parties
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New Orleans Mardi Gras Carnival
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Ethiopian Timkat Festival
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Rio de Janeiro Carnival
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Peruvian Inca Inti Rami Festival
-
Pakistani Ashura Parade
Great Festivals 2
-
Philippines Ati-Atihan Festival
-
Trinidad Carnival
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Spanish Las Fallas
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Valencia Festival
-
Spanish La Tomatina Food Festival
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Italian Battle of the Oranges Food
Festival
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Turkish Oiled Wrestling Festival
Great Festivals 3
-
Chinese New Year in Taiwan
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Ghana Coming of Spring Celebration
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Russian End of Perpetual Darkness
Celebration
-
New Zealand Sheep Shearing Contest
-
Maori Regatta
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Finish Wife-Carrying Competition
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Canadian Rodeo
-
Birdman of Bognor
-
UK Glastonbury and Notting Hill
Carnival
As you can see, the festivals highlighted
in this collection are extremely diverse and include all facets of
information from food to religion to just good old fashioned enjoyment.
Although I'm not sure where the Oiled Wrestling Festival from Turkey
fits into the mix with all those oiled men. Disturbing but deliciously
entertaining! Nonetheless, the series is quite informative and really
showcases the amazing festivals from around the world and all those
involved really get into them.
Amusing is another world that describes
this documentary series well because seeing the Finnish carry their
women in a race must be seen to be believed and strangely enough, they
are quite competitive. What I would have liked to have seen more in this
DVD is some more historical information because at best, it's quite
limited. That is probably the only downfall but given that there was
only 155 minutes to play it, I can almost forgive the producers for this
small neglect.
Video, Audio & Special Features
Presented in 16:9 widescreen, the video
quality is quite good for a documentary of this calibre with sharp
images, minimal artifacting and a good colour palette. The audio is only
Dolby Digital 2.0 and when the drums of Trinidad start pounding or you
hear the cheering of the crowd from Rio de Janeiro, your speakers do get
a workout. Unfortunately there are no special features included on this
DVD.
In conclusion, Great Festivals is a good
DVD from start to finish that highlights the wondrous world we live in.
Each festival is quite short and before you know it, you'll have
travelled around the world and will have enough information to be an
entertaining hit at your next dinner party. Check it out! |
