Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors

MYSTERIES OF THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS is a first-rate documentary exploring one of the world's great archaeological finds. Created to guard the tomb of China's first emperor, the warriors are an artistic and cultural marvel. This film, however, goes far beyond the statues themselves, providing a riveting look into Chinese history, specifically the history of the Qin Dynasty.

Much of the history as it is told in this documentary has remained unproven, some would say apocryphal. Now, archaeologists are poised on the brink of proving that these stories and the historical figures they portray are very real indeed.

Careful archaeology and science are at the fore in MYSTERIES OF THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS, yet the documentary never gets bogged down in scientific detail and remains accessible to a general audience. Dramatic reenactments of the past add interest without getting overly speculative and losing their educational value.

With excellent organization and pacing, the filmmakers have brought a bit of the history of what may be the world's oldest known civilization to life. This window into the China of two millennia ago can be considered nothing less than awe inspiring.

MYSTERIES OF THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS truly is an outstanding documentary that will delight viewers of all ages. Recommendation: Strong watch.

50 years ago National Geographic did an article about the terracotta warriors. I was a teenager and swore some day I'd go there. I did, in 2015. This documentary brought back all the excitement and wonder of actually standing and looking down on those thousands of warriors. The place is truly magical and this documentary does an excellent job of illustrating that.

I cannot imagine the dedication it must take to spend most of your archeological career painstakingly reassembling these statues. The fact that they survived at all is astonishing, considering how delicate terracotta ultimately is.

Seeing pictures, and even this video, is just a tiny example of how incredible the place really is.

This one is better if only compared to the many poorly done Netflix 'documentaries'.

As usual, what mars all these so-called "documentaries" are the inclusions of totally unnecessary and distracting theatrics which add nothing except to eat up time so as to cover up for the lack of more interesting factual information.

The chunks of time taken up by cringy re-enactments (of which there are already plentiful Chinese movie saga that do much better) could have been much better spent to provide graphical clarity on the inter-relationships of the historical characters involved and their placement in China's history in that period, as well as provide better visual understanding of the layout of the sprawling burial complex.

This one does provide more focussed interviews on the subject at hand compared to the meandering pointless interviews of the Saqarra Tombs that doesn't relate directly with the content at hand.

Both could have done with more properly written and professionally narrated content that link up the things talked about in the various interviews - as it is, much of the content seem rather incidental hotch-potch rather than following a clear focussed narrative thread that a good documentary should have.

Still hoping Netflix will one day come up with actual real professional documentaries without the glob of cheap theatre plonked in.

Giant infomercial for China, how great they are, how great the archiaological dig is, the big building, etc. Lots of hyperbole. It's a little insufferable.

The main narrator/ researcher resembles and speaks like an animatronic character at Chuck E. Cheese. He sounds like a voiceover, but it looks like he speaks English, so it wouldn't have been necessary to translate the speech. It's very disturbing. Several methods are used to translate Chinese into English but it's inconsistent doesn't make sense. Some Chinese doesn't get translated at all.

I'm sure that China is very proud of the terracotta warriors, and rightfully so, but this whole production should have been a documentary instead of this ham-handed drama.

The bottom line for me is that this site was discovered during the cultural revolution when people lost their heads for talking about or paying homage to old things or old people. Who know how many of artifacts just disappeared because they showed China in some unfavorable light?

Hard pass.

I have been aware of and fascinated by the terracotta army before, but this beautiful documentary gave me so much more context as to why and how this mazing archeological site originally manifested.

There are written records of related events, that are compared to the physical findings of the site. These dramatic events are depicted with wonderful acted scenes throughout the documentary. This style rarely works, but here I think they succeeded. It's visually of great quality and brings the story to life. It showcases unique cultural customs of the time and of that social status.

I'm looking forward to seeing more findings as the work on this huge site continues on. Only a small portion has been excavated! Very exciting.

This documentary is also a tribute to archeologists and many other people working on these sites for decades and bringing their findings to the public knowledge for joint understanding of our human history.