Unbekannt: Die vergessene Pyramide

If you know anything about modern Egyptology, you know Dr. Zahi Hawass. He makes it hard to miss who he is. Is he arrogant? Absolutely!! And that's why so much has been getting done in the deserts. Dr. Hawass, and his signature hat, is an educator who is open to teaching whoever is passionate about learning, so you will see women of all colors in his pack - and he is always teaching

You will see all that in this documentary. But it isn't about him!!

It's about a find by one of his former students, Dr. Mostafa Waziri. He picked up all the arrogance but none of the compassion of Dr. Hawass.

Parts of the dig are obviously staged, but it is still a fun watch. Look beyond the bravado and arrogance and it's a good documentary on an exciting period of time in the Egyptian dessert. And you might learn something!!

The title is a bit misleading and was not really aspecting to spend time in following the whole excavation. Worth watching if you do not have much expectation based on the title. Very Americanized. I loved watching the Saqqara documentary. Intriguing the part in which some items are really discovered at the end of the documentary.

I hope that will be a sequel and some more items and history will be discovered/revealed. I admire the tenacity of all the archeologist that took part on the excavations and the perseverance of the people that helped.

I would have rather seen more of the actual discoveries.

This isn't about Egypt and her historical mysteries. It's about her extremely egotistical head of antiquities Dr Zahi Hawass. He's absolutely insufferable. I understand having pride in your nations history however his way of going about it is more about him and his love for himself than the good of Egyptian archaeology. He is the extreme opposite of early archaeology, the era of foreign excavators. He hogs everything for himself and refuses to work with others. He needs to find a middle ground and stop making it the Hawass show. Egypt deserves better than him. The world deserves better.

Besides Hawaas and the obviously staged aspects of the show it does let you glimpse into the beauty that is and was Egypt. For that it gets 4 stars.

To answer some other reviewers questions

1. Yes most of the finds are partly staged, ie they will find a peek hole into a tomb, and then cover it up , and ring the film crew. Im sort of okay with that, as it does give a feeling of discovery, which is partly true.

2. The arrogance of Hawas, and even his learned protégé , though i respect their expertise, their arrogance, and Egypt centric nationalism are more annoying than awe inspiring. Good that they have local Egyptologists but they dont have to exclusively block or insult foreigners, when the history of Egypt is a global treasure.

3. Nothing of the greatest finds was really gone into by the time it wrapped up. Thats because Netflix will for sure have a deal to unfold these in their next Egypt piece. But they should have named it differently and called the next one The Lost Pyramid

Besides that it was a good watch with some inspiring moments, but the previous Netflix Saqqara one was way better.

It is odd that Zahi Hawass decries the looting colonial archaeologists of Egypts recent past while styling himself on Indiana Jones, opossibly the worst example fo the kind. It's never easy watching his self-publicising style but there is no doubt of the passion he feels for his country's past or of the value (as portrayed in this film) of the Egyptians themseves taking the lead in excavating their past.

Two projects are followed each delivering differently for their lead archaeologists and the different reactions of Waziri and Hawass paint an interesting contrast.

Perhaps more problematic for those that believe in archaeology as a unifying discipline, is the political dimension and the way in which the film looks more like a quest for artefacts and glory than for answers in spite of this being a criticism that these current excavators level at their predecessors.

There is a film to be made about the changes in scholarship as peoples explore their own heritage, but this isn't it. There is also a film to be made about the challenges of the archaeology of early dynastic Egypt and this isn't that either.

It looks beautiful though.