Queen Cleopatra - quick review

Cleopatra is this figure who is a part of our collective imagination. Surrounded by all sorts of stories, myths, and legends spread through the years, no one can tell the truth from the lies anymore.

So, since it is the historical figure everyone knows about, I had to watch Queen Cleopatra, the Netflix re-enactment documentary.

Now, the great question is: is it good? No. Is it terrible? Trust me; it could be worse.

So, what’s the big issue, and why does everyone hate it?

Who was Cleopatra?

The truth is we all know her name. Unfortunately, mainly because of her romance with Mark Anthony rather than because of all she did as the ruler of Egypt. Yet, we know nothing about her.

One of the things that is more controversial is her physical appearance. Queen Cleopatra choose to represent her as a black woman. And that became a big issue, even leading to a lawsuit against Netflix! Aren’t you taking it a bit too seriously?

I don’t know why they did that. If it is because they have any evidence, if it is only a belief, or because of this woke movement that stinks already. I don’t care to be honest. If it is true that she had Greek origins, it is unlikely that she was black. Still, it didn’t bother me, and it isn’t the reason for so much hysteria. People, it is just a show…

So, why am I telling you it sucks?

Well, I like acting documentaries, but only if it makes sense. I hate these new Netflix generation documentaries. People from different eras talk like dumb 21st-century high school students.

Queen Cleopatra was produced more like a soap opera than a documentary. The language they use is inappropriate for the time - and don’t tell me that it was for the viewer to understand, don’t accuse your viewers of being dumb, please. All this makes the documentary non-reliable, regardless of the integrity of the information they present.

Yet, assuming the information they give is accurate, Cleopatra was undoubtedly an intelligent and interesting woman. In the end, I felt some pity for how everything ended.

Cleopatra deserved better

I read a lot of mean critics of this documentary, but the best one was the title from a Brazilian website saying that this docudrama was the “eleventh plague of Egypt”. Sadly, it isn’t that far from it.

Cleopatra was a great historical figure in many ways and deserved a better documentary.

Comments

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