The Birth of Empire: The East India Company is a documentary film (in two parts) which premiered on British television (BBC) in 2014.
Here is some basin information about this film:
** Directors: Sarah Jobling and Adam Warner
** Host and presenter: Dan Snow
** Available via Amazon Prime Video
** Language: English
** Run time: 2 x 59 minutes = 118 minutes
Several persons are interviewed by Dan Snow in the film. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
** Sonia Ashmore – historian, Victoria & Albert Museum
** Saul David – professor of military history, University of Buckingham (see references below)
** Oindrila Gooptu – teacher, La Martiniere College, Lucknow
** Robert Hutchinson – historian
** Margaret MacMillian – professor of history, Oxford University
** Andrea Major – associate professor of history, University of Leeds
** Zareer Masani – author (see references below)
** Subbiah Muthiah – author
** Toby Parker – Haileybury College
** Nick Robins – author (see references below)
** John Wilson – senior lecturer, British Imperial and South Asian History, King’s College, London
As stated above, there are two episodes. Here is a summary of the contents as presented on the BBC website:
Episode one
Dan Snow travels trough India in the footsteps of the company that revolutionized British lifestyles and laid the foundation for today’s global trading systems.
Episode two
Dan Snow traces the rise and fall of the East India Company and reveals how the British government controlled the East India Company and helped to create an empire.
What do reviewers say about this documentary film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 71 percent (based on 102 ratings), which corresponds to a rating of 3.6 stars on Amazon.
There are four user reviews on IMDb.
Here are the headlines and the ratings offered:
10 percent – A complete whitewashing of history
10 percent – Extremely poor account of documentary
70 percent – British centric documentary
90 percent – Impressive account of East India Company
As you can see, the first two reviews are very negative and far below the average offered by the website; the third review is very close to the average offered by the website, while the fourth and final review is very positive and much higher than the average offered by the website.
The average of the four user reviews is 45 percent, which corresponds to a rating of 2.3 stars on Amazon.
The average of the four user reviews is far below the average offered by the website.
On Amazon there are at the moment only two ratings of this product, and only one with a review. The average rating is 4.5 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 90 percent.
The review posted on Amazon offers three stars, while the rating without a review offers five stars. I think the average should be four stars, but this is not the case.
As stated above, the average rating is 4.5 stars. Apparently, the rating without a review carries more weight than the review!
Neil Midgley reviewed this film in The Telegraph (30 April 2014). The headline reads as follows:
“The Birth of Empire: the East India Company, review – could do better”
The conclusion of the review (posted below the headline) reads as follows:
“The talented Dan Snow needs a better project than BBC Two’s The Birth of Empire: the East India Company, says Neil Midgley”
As you can see, Neil Midgley praises Dan Snow as a talented television host and presenter, but he does not praise the product which is under review here, the film about the East India Company.
What do I think about this film?
In my opinion, the ratings on IMDb and Amazon are too high. I understand the review posted on Amazon, which is skeptical, and I understand the negative user reviews posted on IMDb, which are very harsh.
The critical reviews make a common point. They say this film is a whitewashing of the East India Company and of British history. They have good reason to say so.
In addition to this general complaint, I will add two specific points. As far as I can see, they have not been made by other reviewers.
The first point
We see and hear Dan Snow the whole time. It is too much. I know he is the host and the presenter, but does he really need to be on the screen in every scene?
When he does an interview, it is fair enough that we can see him and the person who is being interviewed. But do we really need to see him walking up and down a street while he is talking to us?
When he enters a small tea shop, he orders a cup of tea and when the tea is served, he starts to talk. Not to someone in the shop, but to us! To the audience of his film! But he is standing in a tea shop!
In short: the host and presenter should know when to appear and when to disappear. He should know when and where to talk and he should know when it is a good idea to be silent. Just for a few seconds. This film is a clear case of overexposure!
The second point
The participants chosen for interviews. As you can see from the chart above, the number of participants is eleven. While I do not object to any of them, I think that at least three more persons could and should have been included.
I have compiled a list of references which is posted at the end of this review. I have chosen six titles by six different authors. Three of the six authors appear in the film:
** Saul David
** Zareer Masani
** Nick Robins
They are well-chosen. They deserve to be included. But the other three authors are not there:
** William Dalrymple (born 1965)
** John Keay (born 1941)
** Tirthankar Roy (born 1960)
These three authors are missing. They are not in the film. Why not? Why are they excluded?
What is my conclusion? The topic of the film is relevant. The story of the East India Company is interesting and deserves to be told, but in this film, it is not done very well. What is wrong?
There is too much whitewashing of British history and there are too many minutes where the host and presenter is dominating the screen.
This film is neither great nor good. It is not even average. It is fatally flawed. This is why I think it deserves a rating of two stars (40 percent).
REFERENCES
The Honorable Company:
A History of the English East India Company
By John Keay
(1991) (1993) (1994)
The Indian Mutiny: 1857
By Saul David
(2002) (2004)
The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational
By Nick Robins
(2006) (2012) (2014)
Macaulay:
Britain’s Liberal Imperialist
By Zareer Masani
(2012) (2014)
The East India Company:
The World’s Most Powerful Corporation
By Tirthankar Roy
(2016)
The Anarchy:
The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
By William Dalrymple
(2019) (2020)
*****
A SELECTION OF
TELEVISION PROGRAMS
HOSTED AND PRESENTED BY
DAN SNOW
Battlefield Britain (2004)
Hadrian (2008)
Empire of the Seas (2010)
Battle Castle (2012)
Armada: 12 Days to Save England (2015)
The Mary Rose (2015)
Hunting the Nazi Gold (2016)
The Dambusters (2020)
Into the Valley of the Kings (2022)
*****
The Birth of Empire:
The East India Company
A documentary film in two parts
hosted and presented by Dan Snow
(BBC, 2014)
*****
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