Claim: Mountains of the Moon (film) stars Patrick Bergin as Burton.

Mountains of the Moon is a 1990 Rankcolor theatrical film depicting the 1857 -- 58 journey of Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke in their expedition to Central Africa -- the project that culminated in Speke 's discovery of the source of the Nile River . The expedition led to a bitter rivalry between the two men . The film stars Patrick Bergin as Burton and Iain Glen as Speke . Delroy Lindo made an early film appearance as an African native the adventurers meet .   The film was directed by Bob Rafelson , for whom this was something of a dream project . It was based on the novel Burton and Speke by William Harrison . The narrative concentrates on the relationship between the two very different men . A first-time epic for Rafelson , it opened to positive reviews .