Wow! I saw it when it aired on PBS in 1990! I taped it on VHS and watched 100’s of times! But I lost the tape years ago. Thanks for uploading this gem!
My wife and I had several journeys in South America where people gave us things and refused to be paid - in Argentina, a woman gave us her car for the afternoon, and when we returned, she refused the $100 we wanted to give her - even refused to let us refuel the gas tank. It also happend to us in Liguria (free medical care) and Rhonda (free food). There is something about being a traveler, although it seems that the past few years, things have changed.
34:00 My thoughts on what goes through my mind after seeing countless shuttle, soyuz, SpaceX Crew Dragon, and Artemis I is that you when you see a launch that you're excited about humans leaving the planet to go into space, but at the same time you're praying for their safety and that everything goes well and also terrified over the possibility that things can go horribly wrong. It's a combination of the three excitement, hope, and terror.
Fantastic video. RU-vid algorithm came through for me on this one. I've been studying Matsuo Basho recently and this is just the perfect complement. Thanks for uploading!
What I really wonder is even with more modern communications has the culture or lifestyle really changed that much from 40 years ago? The internet has actually destroyed alot and is probably the most effective means of modern colonization.
Michael Wood brings his magic to this documentary with more than hint of amorous encounters en route and evoking the spirit and enormous physical beauty of Central Africa . He lightly sketches in the horrors , highlighting the thirty years of the monstrous privately ruled Congo Free State and the anti White massacres in 60s and 70s'. He commendably emphasises the humanity and kindness of its people rather than dwelling on countless centuries of horror they have experienced at the hands of their various rulers. It's an up lifting. Wood's commentary for the BBC.
Tired of people making the White man out as a demon for the very thing so many others had done. The Mongols slaughtered whole peoples, they sacked Bagdad and burned everything. People after people fell to their bows and swords. Agia Sophia is a mosque but the Turks, who slaughtered the Armenians are from north of Chins, not "Turkey." The Arabs slaughtered most of the inhabitants of southern Iraq, North Africa and the Levant, because the Arabs live there now, but are not indigenous to those places. Where are most of the original inhabitants? The Bantu are from north of the Congo, where are the original inhabitants of all those African countries, from south of the Congo to South Africa? It is well known the Zulu got their land via extermination. The Aztecs were hated because of their extermination habits through sacrifice and cannibalism, this why Cortes only had 300 Spanish in his army of 20,000. Same thing eighths Inca.But we play this game about the White man, as though he is a monolith but everyone else isn't. I'm tired of people trying to make White people feel guilty. If no one else does, why should we? Besides what did those people bring that was so great? The White man brought the modern works. He pretty much ever slavery worldwide. Even communism, which I despise, is a White man's doctrine. In most countries ½ of all children, no longer die before the age of 5. Nope ZERO guilt.
I had this episode on VHS tape, that I worked my ass of to buy so I could tape it off KQED San Francisco Oakland San Jose (😊😊😊) the night it aired in I believe 1981. I had that tape until last August. Just stupid, huh?
I've seen this a million times since I first saw and taped it in 1987. At the time I often visited the 'Matongé' neighborhood in Bruxelles, loving and buying the hot and elegant music by Franco and his peers at the wonderful 'Musicanova' record shop at the Gallery d'Ixelles in Bruxelles, the colonial and post-colonial stories by Belgians and Zaireans in places like the Mambo Club (or Congolese, if you like, though I have to say, that, notwithstanding Mobutu was an extremely cruel, criminal, murderous and insane dictator, the idea of 'Zaïre' did appear to give the people of a very large country an idea of shared identity and proudness, in a time were the idea of 'Congo' was one of suppression, slavery and colonization.) I was never 'over there', and probably never will, but have often gathered, danced and celebrated with the people over here, and happy, happy times they were!
this documentary was made in 1984 and the boats they used were already considerably old by then. it is 2022 and they are still using the same boats today. Almost nothing has been improved or renewed since Belgium left the Congo. i saw another recent documentary where they are still running trains from the 60's.
Remember large chunks of this wonderful doc and I haven't seen it since it first came out in 1984. Michael wood was bloody good. His great railway journey in 1980, the Zambezi Express was the stand out episode of probably the best ever BBC travel series. Better even than the excellent Michael Palin. If Palin hadn't got the round the world in 80 days gigs and the progs that followed in its wake, Wood would have been just as interesting and compelling. Why cant we have these progs on a DVD BBC?
Amazing to see this from another perspective. I hope they made some tapes themselves, and someone will take the time to digitize them at some point so we can put everything in it's historic perspective sometime in the future. This has been a major era in human history, which I fear we will not see again in the near future. All we can do is to sit in awe at what was accomplished in the name of the human race and space exploration. My deepest respect to the brave souls who put their lives on the line to satiate the human curiosity and to push the boundaries of human capability in respect the the rest of the cosmos.
I've just read Stephen's account of walking the Continental Divide in the early 1980s and enjoyed his responsive and sensitive writing so much - one of the best. Good to now be able to put a face to the words and understand his ability to form relationships with different lands and peoples.
