'Mountains of the Moon' is a must-see for high adventure lovers

I watched a really cool, older movie the other day called “Mountains of the Moon.” If you enjoy tales of high adventure and discovery and haven’t seen this movie, you should definitely watch this film the first chance you get.

The movie was released in February 1990, and is about Sir Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke’s attempt to find the source of the Nile River in the late 1850s. I decided to watch the movie after having recently finished reading Mark Hodder’s award-winning “Burton and Swinburne” series of novels.

Based on the novel “Burton and Speke” by William Harrison, this film was directed by Bob Rafelson. The film stars Patrick Bergin in the role of Burton, and Iain Glen as Speke. Other actors in the film included Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, John Savident, James Villiers, Adrian Rawlins, Peter Vaughan, Delroy Lindo, Bernard Hill, Matthew Marsh, Richard Caldicot, Christopher Fulford, Garry Cooper and Roshan Seth.

The movie is rated R, but I thought it was relatively clean. There is little profanity, if any at all, so the R rating probably stems from brief nudity and a few violent fight scenes. It grossed over $4 million and is two hours and 16 minutes long.

The title of the movie is derived from the name of the mountain range in central Africa that is considered to be the source of the Nile River. The discovery of the Nile’s source at the time ranked right up there behind Columbus’ discovery of the Americas. Burton and Speke’s expedition was controversial because Burton became ill and Speke returned to England ahead of ahead of him, where he claimed credit for the discovery.

“Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon” is the title of the third book in Hodder’s “Burton and Swinburne” series. Fictionalized versions of Burton and Speke play central roles in Hodder’s novels, which are awesome in and of themselves. If you’ve never read them, I also highly recommend that you check them out. The title of the first book in the series is “The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack,” and the second book is “The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man.” You don’t have to read the first two books in the series to enjoy the third, but I do recommend that you read all three in order if possible for the full effect.

Having seen “Mountains of the Moon” also makes me want to read Harrison’s novel, “Burton and Speke,” which was released in September 1982. Published by St. Martins Press, it’s a fictionalized account of the Burton and Speke expedition.

In the end, I enjoyed watching “Mountains of the Moon,” and I highly recommend it to anyone out there who hasn’t seen it. You might have a hard time finding it in stores, so you might have to do like me and rent it from NetFlix.

How many of you out there have seen this movie? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it and why? What was your favorite part and why? Let us know in the comments section below.