They're mostly abstracts of the lush scenery, but a couple of them show Maya ruins. Oops. There weren't any Maya ruins in South America. The producers probably included them to add an exotic air to Ryder's travels. As if he had penetrated to the "heart of darkness" before returning to civilization.
This gives me the opportunity to say Brideshead Revisited is hugely overrated. People allegedly dropped everything to gather around the tube when it originally aired. The British voted it tenth of the "100 Greatest British Television Programmes."
Basically it's a typical Masterpiece Theater-style drama--the lives of the rich and spoiled in early 20th-century Britain. Hardship is when you're forced to economize and let some of your servants go. Suffering is when you're so bored you drink yourself into a stupor.
All the energy is provided by Anthony Andrews as Lord Sebastian Flyte. But he disappears about a quarter of the way into the series and is rarely seen again. We follow the less-interesting Charles as he doesn't rescue Sebastian, watches Laurence Olivier die, and doesn't marry Julia.
In the end, not much has changed or happened. The producers said how happy they were to have 12 hours in which to explore the novel. I think a two- or four-hour version would've sufficed.
If you want a superior drawing-room drama, stick with Upstairs, Downstairs. For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.
1 comment:
"They're mostly abstracts of the lush scenery, but a couple of them show Maya ruins. Oops. There weren't any Maya ruins in South America"
This geographical error is common. Often I've seen it come as part of political discussions, such as "Reagans support for death squads in South America", when the person is clearly referring to North American nations such as Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
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