And isn't "The Mummy" ultimately all about thrilling the masses? As Roger Ebert reported after seeing the movie, "I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even 'The Mummy,' but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. After all, how fun would an adventure story be with a benevolent scribe and healer for an antagonist? Speaking from a dramatic perspective, inserting a hefty dose of lust, mayhem, murder, and afterlife revenge into the mix proves far more interesting. But for some reason, the movies have confused this renowned scribe with a reanimated high priest who's an unstoppable force for revenge.Įmbellishments aside, we've got to give Hollywood a break. They also revered his intellect and ingenuity as a master builder for the pharaoh. What did followers of Imhotep appreciate most? They remained fundamentally fascinated by his incredible healing powers and wisdom. Had he lived in ancient Egypt, all bets would have been off about the time the brain removal started. Fortunately, an exhumation for insurance purposes found him alive and comatose. After a catastrophic motorcycle accident with a brick wall, he spent five days in the grave (via Mental Floss). There's also the 1937 case of 19-year-old Angelo Hays. After all, premature burial has happened often enough to make taphophobia (fear of live interment) a significant concern.Īccording to Smithsonian Magazine, Victorians feared being buried alive so much that they constructed "safety coffins" with bells permitting the deceased to ring for help. Due to a lack of medical knowledge and technology, we have to assume a small percentage of unlucky living people got mummified.
That's not to say mishaps didn't happen, though. The BBC explains that Egyptians "hoped to be reanimated after death and do all the things they could do while alive - breathe, speak, eat, and move." They also that believed punishment got meted out in the afterlife by the gods, so they didn't need to dirty their hands. Something like the Hom Dai also defeated the purpose of mummification.
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So, before you grab a wide-brimmed fedora and don that full khaki outfit to go on a hunch-based dig, here's what you need to know. There's an awful lot that "The Mummy" gets dead wrong about archaeology. If you're after a documentary about life as a shovel bum, this is not the film for you. But how wrong is this entertaining little bit of escapism when it comes to what archaeologists do? Let's put it this way. And who can forget about the horror of flesh-eating scarabs and live mummification? Yikes!Īn admixture of horror, comic relief, romance, and Egyptian curses, "The Mummy" makes for a mad capped ride through the not-so-realistic Hollywood version of archaeology. Gorgeous cinematography, intricate costumes, and stunning replicas of Egyptian artifacts and sites round out the adventure. Rachel Weisz is delightful as a no-nonsense, clumsy, wannabe Egyptologist who can kick some serious butt.įrom Arnold Vosloo's imposing High Priest Imhotep to Oded Fehr's Ardeth Bay and Patricia Velasquez's body-painted Anck-Su-Namun, it's hard to take your eyes off this spectacle. What's not to love about 1999's " The Mummy"? This rip-roaring adventure features an engaging cast of stars, including Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell, one of the goofiest, most lovable himbos ever to grace an adventure flick.