Blog Like an Egyptian

On Saturday, Team Egypt (of which I am a member) saw “Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs” on the OMNIMAX screen at OMSI. It’s been at least a decade since I saw a film on the gigantic OMNIMAX screen at OMSI.

Growing up, I was petrified of how immersing the experience was; for those unfamiliar with the OMNIMAX, it’s a curved screen that is (I think) twice the size of a typical movie screen. The rows are steep enough, so you really feel like the movie is happing all around you. You can look up or crane your neck either direction in order to catch all the action. While watching a space-related film on the OMNIMAX screen in junior high, I actually felt like I was in space with the astronauts on the screen. It’s that intense.

A few box office films find their way onto the OMNIMAX screen – the “Star Wars” prequels come to mind. But its real bread-and-butter are documentaries that take advantage of the massive, curved screen to make viewers feel like they’re there.

As fate would have it, the latest film to play on the OMNIMAX screen was about the mummification process and the importance of mummification to ancient Egyptians. The movie spanned thousands of years, covering the religious importance of mummification, the uncovering of several dozen tombs in the late 1880s and modern efforts to extract DNA from mummies.

Trying to rush through thousands of years of history in 45 minutes was a big mistake. Just as I became interested in one scene, the movie shifted gears and explored another aspect of mummification. If the film had picked one aspect of mummification — its importance to ancient Egyptians, for example — “Mummies” would have been a much more enjoyable, focused film. Instead, it tried to be too many things to too many people. It wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t a total wash, though. Christopher “Saruman” Lee narrated the film, making it all the more palatable. I would listen to that man read the McDonalds menu if given the chance. I learned a fair bit about ancient Egypt and witnessed some truly breathtaking sights, so it wasn’t a total wash.

In spite of the film’s laws, it psyched me up even more for the upcoming trip, which begins in 15 days.

(Photo by Seth Smoot.)