New Documentary "The Man with the Hat" Coming to Prime Video

"The Man with the Hat" recounts the work of an Egyptologist who's often called "the real-life Indiana Jones." Jon Fink spoke to Dr. Zahi Hawass, who's dedicated his life to discovering and protecting Egypt's antiquities.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the world's top explorers, says a single artifact
still keeps them searching for answers cause. John Fink spoke
with the real life Indiana Jones.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
A new documentary, The Man with the Hat recounts the
work of a man often described as the real life
Indiana Jones. I spoke to doctor Zahi Huas, the Egyptologist
who's dedicated his life to discovering and protecting the country's antiquities.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm thinking, I'm excavating right now in Zaccara, and I discovered,
you know, a new betament in Zakkara inside the great
amazing discoveries that is shown in this movie. I'm happy
with the movie because it gives my life to the
people to see how I protected the monuments, because I

(00:46):
believe that this monument's grongs everyone.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Now, you've spent a lot of your career fighting to
protect these antiquities. You've got a lot of intense criticism,
political pressure. What was the personal cost of taking on
that role so publicly?

Speaker 3 (00:59):
You know, I received an email a lot, and some
of these emails are really bad ones. People think that
I do hide evidence and they want me to die
because they think if I die, they will be able
to know that there is built by aliens. And this
is why sometimes I don't have a private life.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now you're combining what seems to be two very disparate things.
You have the serious scholarship and discovery, but then you're
also processing and preparing these sites so that people can
come see and learn about this history. How do you
kind of square between the scholarship and the showmanship of that.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
I always believe in job description and I always believe
to give the younger people the opportunity to work. And
this is why I was able in my career to
make site management for monuments to preserve and also on
the same time, I wrote more than sixty books giving
talks to TV's Discovery channel, Yes sah Nasal Geographic. Then

(02:02):
I really dedicated every minute in my life.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Speaking of these discoveries, you've worked on King tut In Common, Cleopatra.
You've changed how the world understands some of these historical
figures which discovery or investigation challenged your own personal beliefs.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
I really think the discovery that they made the look sort,
which is the Lost Golden City, is considered by the
Archeology magazine in New York City as the most important
archaeology after the discovery of the tourb of Tutankham And
this really is something that made me very happy. We're
still excavating, We've held more workshops, and this discovery really

(02:43):
is amazing that Rono comes to Asia look to see
this discovery.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Now, obviously where you are working, there's a lot of
geopolitical tension outside of all of this archaeology and finding
all these antiquities. How does working amidst all this geopolitical
tension change how you think about preserving history.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
People see that Gaza and Israel is dear Cairo, no
is it is away from all of this? Is it
the same at the archeologist, I feel excavating and writing
and discovering and lecturing. There is nothing political that can
stop me of making and revealing all this measure.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Obviously, you're making some fantastic progress. It's still happening. What
kind of concerns you about the future of ancient Egypt.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
We need to accommodate between the lead of tourists and
the preservation of the Egyptian and the massive tourists can destroy.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
History and so to be able to have that available
for tourists, but preserving the history itself. It does seem
like finding this very sacred middle ground.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
We need to accommodate by restoring this monuments. By making
a rotation system, people can cross tombs and open tombs
and the close tools to be restored. You need really
a system to preserve these monuments, and this system cannot
be done by Egypt only. This monument belongs to everyone.
We need all of us to cooperate to preserve this monument.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
What advice do you have for someone living in San
Diego that has maybe never left the United States one
sum trip to Cairo, doesn't know a thing about what
to do. Where do they go, what do they do?

Speaker 3 (04:25):
I think they should contact any four company around the city.
And if you've come to Egypt, I'm telling people in
San Diego, this will be the best thing in your life.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Doctor Zahi Hawass, subject of The Man with the Hat,
a documentary on Amazon Prime. I'm John Fink. Well, that
will be a must watch.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
On my list. Okay, very interesting.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Thank you, John,