Review of The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) by Patrick R — 12 Mar 2018

While an attempt is made to be faithful to the source material and tone of the author, Chapman is unable to adequately translate the internal dialogue of the characters to the screen. Needless to say, this is a most challenging task for the best of directors. It's difficult to see how anyone would do an adequate job with this, as the Auel's novel is primarily internal dialogue driven, with characters speaking in subtle hand signals. It's possible that a more in-depth attempt could be made in 2018, with many pieces of literature being treated more richly through several episode Netflix binges.

In such a case, characters would have to appear more emotional, narration more expansive, and perhaps more in-depth translation for hand signals. Even in this example, narrative to visual would be challenging.

Given those constraints and that the adaptation is 1986, Chapman's work isn't a bad try. Many of the negative reviews are correct in saying that the characters generally don't connect well. They did for the reader because internal dialogue made them seem more relatable. The characters in the film, on the other hand, don't exactly seem detached, but they can never seem to adequatley communicate the emotion of the original author.

Take away the time that it takes for the author to build up the crises, and the film becomes a detached retelling of a diminished plot of the novel.

Maybe someone else will try to do this again.