Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Director Werner Herzog's latest cinematic mind trip blows you away with its beauty.

The cave exists to provoke awe in mere mortals. The camera pauses at one point to take in a stalagmite reaching up to touch, nearly, a stalactite and the inevitable association is with Michelangelo's Adam and the hand of God.

Go underground with magic glasses on your nose and you won't regret it.

Imagine an opulent movie palace that was 30,000 years old, with posters preserved on the curving walls and the bones of the Stone Age patrons peacefully sleeping in the fairy dust. That's essentially what archeologists found in a French canyon in 1994 and what Werner Herzog brings back to life in the extraordinary documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

An enthralled and mostly enthralling guided tour of what Herzog describes as "one of the greatest art discoveries in the history of human culture."

Cinema's greatest caveman meets his ancestors. For us, it's a reassurance: The creative process is astonishingly old and its fruits still surprisingly fresh.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams feels stuck in a middling zone of too much conjecture and not enough scholarship.

More than 30,000 years ago, our human ancestors entered the Chauvet Cave in southern France and, for reasons unknown but pondered about for millennia, they created cave paintings. These are the oldest known paintings to exist. The pictures depict magnificent animals, including lions, horses, rhinos, and extinct cave bears and panthers. The soft cave floor is littered with bones (100% of them are from animals) including many well preserved skulls of the extinct cave bear which would have spent much time in such caves. Beautiful patterns have emerged after thousands of years of slow dripping water and the ambiance is only enhanced by the drastic shift from large chambers with high ceilings to tight spaces with almost no room to move. The cave was first explored in 1994 and due to the fact that it had been sealed by a long ago rock collapse, it was most likely the first time in over 20,000 years anyone had entered the cave. Werner Herzog has a distinct style, and anyone who has seen some of his films will recognize immediately that this is a Herzog film. As in a favorite film of mine, Grizzly Man, he uses wonderful shots of his subject spliced with entertaining interviews by key figures. He expounds upon the bigger questions such as 'why' did people draw these and what could it have meant in a broader scheme of humanity. Experts are interviewed in various fields of science and the humanities who all bring unique perspectives to the subject matter. There are wonderful asides that touch on similar cave findings, such as bone fragments turned into flute-like instruments, signaling the importance of not just art but music to people throughout time. Anecdotes about the history of the region including the large glaciers which covered the area before melting add a nice touch. Herzog and his team were hindered greatly by the French government (justifiably) who would only allow filming under the most strict guidelines. Just a crew of 4, shooting for 4 hours per day, for just one week and they were only allowed a few small, battery run lights, all the while confined 100% of the time to a small, 2 foot wide walkway built throughout the cave which no one is allowed to leave for fear of tampering with the well preserved cave. Herzog filmed in 3D which, for the first time in my life, I can say was absolutely the perfect solution to portraying the amazing cave in its entirety. The paintings are made throughout the cave on contoured walls which, it would seem, were purposely put there so as to add to the dimensions and the storytelling of the paintings. Herzog draws a wonderful parallel to what it must have looked like by torchlight 30,000 years ago. There is even evidence that some of the paintings have etchings around them to create depth. Several paintings are drawn with multiple legs and horns, clearly attempting to depict movement among the animals. There is a unique piece of wall covered in red hand prints. Interestingly, there is a distinct defect in the print of the little finger on one of the hands, and this hand can be traced to multiple red hand prints throughout the cave, meaning the team is able to trace the path of a single individual from so many thousands of years ago. One of the most interesting aspects of the film comes from an area of the cave which cannot be fully seen from the walkway. A partial view of one of only 2 paintings in the cave which depict some form of the human body. It appears to be the lower body of a woman with the head of a bullish creature. Herzog is eventually allowed to place a camera on a long crane to get a better view. It is not so much the shot of the painting that is astounding as is the questions that are raised by such figures. What were our ancestors thinking when they drew these paintings of animals, and more specifically, when they drew this painting of half woman half beast? What did they believe about the world and why were they so interested in recording visually what they saw around them? This is a beautiful film and one enhanced largely via 3D technology.

Loved the introduction to the subject, but found Herzog a bit tiresome. The interviews were also quaint and full of cliche. Recommend sticking it out till the end however because the artwork is awe inspiring.

Werner Herzog is given intimate access to the earliest instance of cave painting known to modern man: the Chauvet Cave in southern France. It's a mesmerizing topic, but after the camera pans dramatically across the same six sketches for the third or fourth time, it becomes clear that elaboration just isn't in the cards. Rather than using these caves as a jumping-off point to discuss early man and his habits, Herzog stands in place and explores the particulars of these specific illustrations. Which is his prerogative, granted, and fully excusable if he's able to find enough meat to justify such a narrow aperture. He doesn't, though, and his long, dull conversations with the local team of researchers only further belabor a struggling theme. Dry and emotionless as a textbook with just one or two moments of wonder, it's too much for a TV episode and too little for a feature-length documentary.

A beautiful and fascinating find spoiled by an overly romanticized and stultifyingly boring presentation for the first 30 minutes...best watched with the sound off. Sadly lacking in actual information, it does get a bit better in the middle, then wanders off again. Voice-over keeps posing questions then proclaiming 'We'll never know' to completely answerable questions. Includes random tourist-style shots for no explicable purpose. Very weak on scientific content. Feels like the result of a long weekend at a winery where the archeology department and the guest speakers on romantic poetry got together and planned an ego piece. The materiel deserves better treatment. Will keep looking.

The best way I could describe this movie is that it's an interesting glimpse at something that most people will never have access to, that required about 10 minutes of film, but was unfortunately produced into a full length film. The film we get is padded-out with commentary and repeat after repeat of the same shots of the cave paintings, that it manages to kill what made it interesting to start with. Awful music, no real direction, and an unnecessary postscript made me wish that I'd only watched the trailer.