User Reviews

I have seen several other documentaries about the life of Leonardo da Vinci before and fortunately this installment of "Secrets of the Death" is not just more of the same. Instead, it tracks the progression of da Vinci's intellect....and puts it all in context. This is good, as many other biographies tend to over-idealize the man and make him seem bigger than life...which provides us with a false, almost heroic narrative. Here, we learn that da Vinci was NOT as well educated as we had assumed BUT shows how he taught himself and from where he got his brilliant ideas. The biggest shock is that many of his great inventions seen in his notes are based on previous folks' work--which makes sense as almost never does an amazing invention occur without the work of previous gifted individuals. Who these previous folks were and how they influenced him are discussed in detail. What is NOT discussed in more detail is da Vinci's life itself....you learn little about his childhood and NOTHING of his later years in France nor about his death. I don't see this as a shortcoming...more just that these aren't within the scope of the film. Overall, very interesting, very fresh and original and well worth your time.