Review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) by Dolores H — 12 Apr 2013

There is an irksome quality to Herzog's post-mellinnium documentary work that seems as much to distract from and contradict its subjects as it focuses on and honors them. In Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Herzog's insatiable need to lay his own words to the images of a bonafide geographical masterwork could drive a viewer to anger, and Herzog still goes further and damns the sanctity of such images of the past by bringing against them contemporary modes of art he deems analogous and pertinent.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams isn't a waste of your time, but it certainly could have benefitted from the vision and film philosophy of a documentarian who's comfortable letting his or her subject do the storytelling.