Netflix has been under fire from the Egyptian government for hiring a Black woman to play Cleopatra, one of history’s most well-known historical figures, in a new series.
Adele James will play the title character in the movie “Queen Cleopatra,” which will be released on May 10. According to the streaming service, this choice is “a nod to the centuries-long conversation about the ruler’s race,” but Cairo authorities have called it a “blatant historical fallacy.”
“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about black queens,” producer Jada Pinkett Smith claimed as her motivation for telling the tale.
The teaser, which was released two weeks ago, asserts that Cleopatra was black and had “curly hair,” angering Egyptians who refuted the assertion.
The documentary aspect of the film, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, “requires those in charge of its production to investigate accuracy and rely on historical and scientific facts.”
The appearance of Cleopatra in the next series, according to Dr. Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Archaeology, is “a falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical misconception.”
Dr. Waziri said: ‘The film is classified as a documentary and not a drama, the order that the owners of its industry have to investigate accuracy and refer to historical and scientific facts in order to ensure that the history and civilizations of peoples is not falsified”.
He stated that when creating the series, archaeologists and anthropologists ought to have been consulted.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities included pictures of antiques and coins with depictions of Cleopatra alongside their extensive statement.
The purpose of doing this, according to them, was to highlight her “hellenic (greek) features, such as her light complexion, drawn nose, and fluffy lips.”
Dr. Waziri asserted that Queen Cleopatra’s history, which is a significant and accurate aspect of ancient Egyptian history, is the source of the state of rejection that the movie experienced prior to its release.
As a result of her Macedonian ancestry, Dr. Nasser Mekkawy, the head of Cairo University’s Egyptian Department of Archaeology, noted that Cleopatra would have seemed light-skinned.
He claimed that a prehistoric Macedonian dynasty that governed Egypt for about 300 years was Cleopatra’s lineage.
The Ministry added that research in anthropology and DNA analysis of mummies and bones had proven that Egyptians did not share South-Saharan African traits.
The public prosecutor of Egypt received a complaint from an Egyptian attorney demanding that Netflix be shut down.
