I managed to get through episode one by virtue of the wonderful filming, but half way through the second episode, I had to throw in the towel. Whatever was Marion Milne thinking? Virtually every frame was ruined by the presence of Simon Sebag strolling through it in a mixture of uncomfortable arrogance and am-dram awkwardness, acompanied by an irritating, affected voice. This seems to be the case with so many documentaries, wherein the presenter becomes more visible than the subject matter. Frankly, in a documentary, there is no need for anything other than the presenter's voice. This is in no way a sight on Simon, as I'm sure he was just following direction.
As a side-note, having lived and worked in Madrid for 15 years and being fluent in Castellano, I can say that the Spanish have both a remarkable knowledge of their own history, and an almost exaggerated sense of national pride, having come through a pretty traumatic history; past and recent. I have hiked over 17,000 kilometers of their terrain using there network of routes and spoken to many, many people in every corner of the Peninsular. I would certainly take seriously any Spaniard that took umbrage at any part of the historical data presented.
Nonetheless, beautiful filming by Craig Hastings and team.
As a side-note, having lived and worked in Madrid for 15 years and being fluent in Castellano, I can say that the Spanish have both a remarkable knowledge of their own history, and an almost exaggerated sense of national pride, having come through a pretty traumatic history; past and recent. I have hiked over 17,000 kilometers of their terrain using there network of routes and spoken to many, many people in every corner of the Peninsular. I would certainly take seriously any Spaniard that took umbrage at any part of the historical data presented.
Nonetheless, beautiful filming by Craig Hastings and team.
