![]() ![]() Something the movie doesn’t mention, though, is that Frances Patterson was an amazing woman in her own right. He was born in 1909, so unless she had one of the longest pregnancies ever, I doubt she was pregnant in 1898. However, it’d be a bit of a stretch to assume that they had their son around the timeline of the film. ![]() The two were married in 1895, so the movie is correct in showing them married in 1898. She’s played by Emily Mortimer in the film. That’s between Somalia to the north and Tanzania to the south.Īnother little difference in this opening sequence is with Colonel Patterson’s wife, who is cast as Helena Patterson. In 1898 when our story takes place that was known by the colonizing British as simply British East Africa, but today we know it as Kenya. More specifically, they’d already built a temporary bridge that the workers used to haul equipment across the river, but Colonel Patterson’s job was to build the permanent bridge and also the railway for 30 miles on either side of the bridge.įor a bit of geographical context, the Tsavo river is on the eastern side of Africa. He was commissioned, like the movie implies, to build a bridge on the Tsavo river for the Uganda Railway committee. The purpose of that committee was, as you can probably guess, to build a railway across the sub-Saharan plains of Africa.Ĭolonel Patterson, on the other hand, was a real person. He’s more of a composite character to portray the committee in London in charge of the Uganda Railway. All of those scenes are made up, but there are bits and pieces of truth in there. It’s alright, because that just means she can come to Africa with their newborn child when he’s born.Īnd with that, our opening sequence is set. ![]() In theory he should be back before she has the child, but challenges come-they always do. And their ability to beat the French and Germans hinges on Colonel Patterson being able to do what Robert Beaumont has hired him to do-build a bridge across the river Tsavo.Īfter this introduction to Colonel Patterson’s boss, we meet his wife at the train station as she bids him farewell. Or, as Robert explains it, in saving Africa from the Africans. All of it for the glorious purpose of beating the French and Germans in the colonialism of Africa. The scene we see next is one where Robert Beaumont, a character played by Tom Wilkinson, tells Colonel Patterson that he’s building the most expensive and daring railroad in history. It’s Val Kilmer’s character who happens to be Colonel John Patterson. Then the voice concludes its monologue as it introduces itself as Samuel-a character played by John Kani in the film.įinally, we see the man’s face as he finishes his walk down the hall and reaches his destination. As the voiceover continues to explain, a brilliant engineer named Colonel John Patterson was there when it began. It’s famous because what took place at Tsavo had never happened before. He’s walking with his back to the camera as we follow him down the hall, so we can’t really see his face.Īs he walks, we hear a voiceover explaining that this is the most famous true African adventure. The door opens and walking through the dark halls is a man in uniform. Instead of seeing lions, though, we hear a slight growl as we see the title of the film: The Ghost and the Darkness.Īfter this, the camera cuts to a building and there’s a bit of text on screen to let us know we’re in London in the year 1898. Or, I guess, the kind of grass you won’t see a lion hiding in until it’s too late. It’s the kind of grass you might expect to see a lion hiding in. Our story today opens with a scene of golden fields of long grass blowing in the wind. ![]()
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