Review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) by Nikolai E — 17 Sep 2010
The details of this film just fall away in comparison to its subject. It's a film about the Chauvet cave paintings. Why did Herzog make it? Because he was the one with the clout to stare down the French authorities.
Why is it in 3D? Because it's the best way to convey the unquestionable tactile reality of these images, whose very existence is nearly unfathomable. The film flirts with scientific documentary conventions, exploring related sites and artifacts, interviewing experts, showing computer scans of the cave with statistics, but that aspect is a bit half-hearted.
We are here to look at cave paintings, and we have more than ample opportunity to do that. The simple, irreducible fact is that someone painted these things on a cave wall thirty-two thousand years ago, more than six times the span of recorded history, and they did it well enough to indicate they had been doing it for thousands of years longer.
Then someone made a movie about it. And you should see that movie.
This review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) was written by Nikolai E on 17 Sep 2010.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams has generally received positive reviews.
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