ROTTEN TOMATOES MAY 2023 NETFLIX'S CLEOPATRA TOMATOMETER BLACK WASHING AFROCENTRIC AFRICAN QUEENS DOCUMENTARY SERIES TOP BEST VIEWERS CRITICS ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RACE DISTORTION OF HISTORY FACTS

ROTTEN TOMATOES - MAY 2023

Please use our A-Z to navigate this site or return HOME

ROTTEN TOMATOES MAY 2023 - CRITICS REVIEWS: TOMATOMETER

As soon as Netflix dropped the trailer for its so-called "docudrama" about ancient Egypt's Queen Cleopatra, the heat started building online. The Netflix preview quickly drew criticism, as you can see from the remarks below. Many complained that the feature was attempting to rewrite history, primarily because Cleopatra is portrayed by a black woman in the film, though of mixed race. As might possibly have been the case if the Pharaoh Queen's father had been playing away from home. Which, they frequently did.

The movie, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and British actor Adele James as Queen Cleopatra, is Netflix "docuseries" on African queens, focused on female rulers from the African continent. Thus, is a potential fraud, in that the evidence in support of the argument that Queen Cleopatra could be portrayed in a documentary as being black African, was missing in its entirety. Not quite the same thing if the series had been billed as a work of fiction. But that was not the case.

In the latest official response to the controversy, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities issued a long statement at the end of April stressing that "Queen Cleopatra had light skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features." The evidence for which is compelling, given the coins minted showing her visage as unwaveringly Macedonian, and the marble busts, also revealing he facial characteristics, as opposed to temple carvings, that were not meant to be actual representations of her face, but rather Egyptianised, as was typical. Though, we would like to see yet more investigation on the subject, just in case there is any sliver of truth in the series. We just want to be sure, as no doubt would many a viewer. Especially, with Gal Gadot, set to put her face on the Cleopatra map, as being Israeli. Granted, that Greek Macedonian actresses are not easy to find; with the Hollywood muscle to make a truly exceptional production. And (presumably) Wonder Woman's proposed film makes no claims as to factual representation. Hence, there is no reason for Ms Gadot not to give the part her best. No pressure! We like her work in other works of fiction.

Leila Latif - Guardian - Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 24, 2023: It’s a deliciously fun drama weighed down by the self-serious need to educate.

Joyce Slaton - Common Sense Media - Full Review | May 23, 2023: The best parts of Queen Cleopatra are when academics appear on the screen to explain incidents in Cleopatra's life (which is unusual, because that's sometimes when the life goes out of a documentary).

Melanie McFarland - Salon.com - Full Review | May 18, 2023: While I still wouldn't call it extraordinary from a production standpoint, it is worth digesting in ways people easily incensed by its Blackness would never countenance.

James Walton - The Spectator - Full Review | May 18, 2023: If you looked carefully amid the fantasising and wish-fulfilment, the programme did sometimes offer some actual history... The obvious trouble, however, is that because of its weirdly unashamed lack of objectivity, you couldn’t trust any of it.

Joseph Fahim - Middle East Eye - Full Review | May 18, 2023: With no distinctive aesthetic point of view on offer and nothing intellectually novel to engage with, Cleopatra swiftly becomes a test of patience before it even reaches episode two.

Camilla Long - Times (UK) - Full Review | May 15, 2023: It is patchy sub-Game of Thrones cosplay interwoven with academics you’ve never heard of.

Romey Norton - Ready Steady Cut - Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | May 14, 2023: It’s not very good. Overall, it lacks context, personality, and a reason for being made.

Anne Brodie - What She Said - Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 13, 2023: Re-enactments, mostly florid, are brought back to earth with excellent background provided by experts. It’s stunning how much is known about the Queen, hers was an extraordinary life, but much of what we know thanks to Hollywood is pure rot.

Chris Joyce - Movies and Munchies (YouTube) - Full Review | May 13, 2023: While the information is comprehensive, the presentation works against the scholarly authority by creating melodramatic sequences with cringey sequences that come across as fiction rather than fact.

Hugo Rifkind - Times (UK) - Full Review | May 12, 2023: As a pure drama, it would all have been absolutely no worse than plenty of other things. Albeit not good ones.

Rohan Naahar - The Indian Express - Full Review | May 12, 2023: A surface-level docudrama that often slips into Mills & Boon territory, Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra tells the legendary monarch’s tale with all the dramatic heft of a Wikipedia article.

Graeme Tuckett - Stuff.co.nz - Full Review | May 12, 2023: British actor Adele James is by far the best thing about the show.

Joel Keller - Decider - Full Review | May 10, 2023: James does a good job... Unfortunately, the rest of the cast play their parts like they’re in something more akin to Caligula than a serious examination of Cleopatra’s life.

Roger Moore - Movie Nation - Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 10, 2023: The scripts set up a thesis — that she was an agent of her own destiny, not just swept along with it, that she was accomplished, learned and cunning and Black — and never quite closes the deal.

Anita Singh - Daily Telegraph (UK) - Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 3, 2023: ... It's too soapy for serious history fans, and not enough of a soap for viewers who like juicy historical dramas.

WHAT RACE WAS CLEOPATRA?

It is true that Ancient Egyptians were all colors, especially the Nubians that were frequently employed to construct the Pyramids. Egypt was more of a culture than a race, and the idea of skin color only really crops up when considering rulers and lineage. It being highly unlikely the ancients would push an Afrocentric agenda, going against traditional passing of the throne, to confirmed lineages. But, nothing is impossible, and no stone should be left unturned.

Egypt's antiquity ministry's said in a statement that Cleopatra was descended from a Macedonian family that ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years, backed by their lead archaeologist. They have not discovered her tomb, though other archaeologists, are still searching.