Review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) by Allen G — 02 Jul 2013
Herzog succeeds yet again in giving something that is truly fascinating- this time it is a cave. A really, really, awesome cave.
Herzog's narration in this one didn't interest me as much as it usually does- his observations just didn't do as much for me this time round for whatever reason. Maybe the obvious beauty of the cave itself made the words pale in comparison. In fact, for once, my mind felt more mystified by this cave than Herzog's seemed. He does however manage to make us feel like we are in there which is quite a treat considering how hard it is to access.
It resembles your usual documentary for the most part which many of Herzog's recent works have done. As always though, Herzog is all over this and so if you aren't a fan then this may run a little longer than it needs to for you. In comparison to much of his other works though I found this to be pretty on-topic. Plus, as one critic noted:
"(Cave of Forgotten Dreams) might have been a worthy film at 60 minutes long, but then it wouldn't have been a Herzog film.".
The camera work is astounding considering the difficulties involved and the score is magnificent too- both of these things meaning that this documentary lives up to the Herzog-standard of atmosphere quality. Herzog usually cares more about the people involved than anything else but in this case the cave represents the people- he isn't so interested in today's people but rather those from many thousands of years ago. While this is a great approach it is also a difficult one and Herzog's usually, unexpectedly personal interviews, with, well anyone, are gone here and replaced with more typical and in my view, less interesting topic-based interviews.
I was going to give this 70% but since I know how much Herzog fought to get the mutant albino crocodiles in there I think it deserves 80%- it adds something so unexpected yet to exciting- surely how the discovers of the Chauvet cave must have felt when first realising what lies within.
This review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) was written by Allen G on 02 Jul 2013.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams has generally received positive reviews.
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