Search - Life in Medieval Times on DVD

Be careful...

John Robinson | Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan | 04/23/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"...this item, as well as the companion DVD "Life in Anglo-Saxon Times" is a low-budget effort with rather poor sound and fairly meagre atmosphere.

What it is, is this: a small number of academics discuss life in the relevant times (in one section it is quite difficult to understand because of sound reverberation problems).

There are also scenes from an actual working village of Anglo-Saxon times (which does double-duty as the village in Medieval times, sometimes the exact same footage with the film flipped left-to-right; low budget in the extreme). This village was apparently constructed to show kids how their ancestors lived.

While some interesting points are explained, the whole effort has such a cheap video quality (with titles and explanatory introduction "written" letter by letter across the scene like something out of the 70's) that it really does not convey any atmosphere.

Is it worth the money? Hmmm. At the current price, no, not unless you are a diehard history fan and even then, the fact that the same village is used for two distinct periods of time (pre-Norman invasion and post) rather strains the historical credibility, though some of the speakers are good.

Probably should avoid this one."