Cave of Forgotten Dreams Review
By David Kempler
Batty Director Rocking in the Cave
On December 18, 1994, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet (for whom the cave is now named), explored a cave in southern France. No one had ever been inside it before. Well, that isn't exactly accurate. A rockslide in the Ice Age obstructed the entrance to the cave. Before that, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals walked through this cave, and what we have learned from its re-opening is that the Homo sapiens created art on the walls.
It is now believed to be the first evidence of art in our planet's history. In the art world this is unbelievably big news, and I was similarly bowled over by it, even though I am very far from a knowledgeable patron of the arts. A topic that I would have thought to be very dry is actually quite thrilling.
Renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog received permission to film inside the cave and he chose to do so in 3D. While the 3D works spectacularly well on the long shots, it adds nothing to the close-ups of the artwork, but this like criticizing a work of art; you can always find something to denigrate. The overall effect of Herzog's technique is stellar.
He was only granted a few hours inside, in order to help preserve the cave and he was severely hamstrung by this. However, he makes the most of it. The scientists have constructed a narrow metal walkway and Herzog and his skeleton crew are confined to it. Despite this, they deliver remarkable footage of artwork and animal remains preserved for thousands of years.
The meat and potatoes are the actual drawings on the walls. They are almost all of the animals of the era. Some are startling beautiful. Armed with only charcoal, the artists of long ago have created some truly beautiful etchings. What really is striking is the art of one particular person, presumably a man, although I'm not certain why. He has left a series of red palm prints on the cave walls. We know that they have all been the work of one man, because the hand displays a crooked finger in each print.
The only problem I had with "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" is when Herzog shoots outside of the caves and attempts to tie everything in the world into the cave's findings. He asks his usual oddball questions of oddball people. What would a Herzog movie be without at least a little bit of this type of stuff? But even those scenes are funny and thoughtful.
This is something everyone should see, even though I realize a lot of people will not give a hoot about it. It is because that I had no real interest in it I believe that others may fall into a similar circumstance. Perhaps that is assigning too much weight to my own thinking, but so what. At the very least, tell anyone that you can think of that enjoys art about it. If they don't already know about it, they will be very thankful for the news.
