It was $12.50, which sucked, but it was pretty enjoyable, and pretty much packed. The audience reacted appropriately, laughing at some of the absurdities of the “skeptical” positions. Of the panelists, the two on the right end were really the only two that they needed to have there, but no one really stunk either. It was a pleasure to hear Kent Weeks’ comments, as it is obvious that his views about the Exodus dating have evolved somewhat — I don’t know if you’ve seen his “Ramesses” special where he tries to rewrite the Exodus account by claiming that the eldest son of Ramses II, who did indeed die young and get interred apparently in KV5, but it was dreadful. David Rohl was on screen just the right amount, and Finkelstein’s arrogance came through enough to make that impression, but not so much that what he was claiming didn’t get through. The documentarian never seemed to take a position, and documented his personal journey beautifully.
I agree. It was interesting and pretty well balanced, I thought. Just documenting his personal journey. There were a few things that I had never heard of before. The show started about 15-20 minutes late for some reason, so after all the previews did not get going till near 8pm, so we did not stay for the panel discussion as it was after 10 and my wife gets up at 5am. Maybe the panel discussion will be available on youtube or something.
I was really surprised that he got those candid interviews with Netanyahu and Peres.
The worst part was that hokey interview with Michael Medved at the beginning. lol!
For others that might be interested in the movie.
http://www.patternsofevidence.com/media/filer_public/8f/87/8f8757a4-5f69-4d15-aa9c-548e2e0c1ee1/poe_epk_v9.pdf
I watched the program at a local theatre. Just one thought re: Finkelstein. He belongs to a rather sizeable group of archaeologists who are, frankly, sick and tired that the discipline of archaeology in the Levant has been in service to Biblical fundamentalists. He wants his discipline to be respected by all other scientists. His attitude was not so much arrogance as frustration that he was speaking to yet another person who wants syro-palestinian archaeology to be “biblical” archaeology. In my opinion the writer/ producer of the program made a mistake by including Finkelstein in the first place.