Cave of Forgotten Dreams

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How do you feel about historical nature movies in 3D? Most people (including me) would probably be, “Meh, I prefer to watch James Cameron’s elaborate, expensive and rather froofy version of nature again.” Wrong answer. I foresee a great demand for 3D cinematic versions of real-life wonders. Soon we will be like the rotund people in Wall-E, rolling ourselves to see GRAND CANYON VI: WHEN CONDORS ATTACK.

Chauvet Caves courtesy Wikimedia

Until then, we’ve got treasures like Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog’s brief but beautiful look into the Caves de Chauvet, caverns in the South of France discovered in 1994 with some of the earliest examples of prehistoric art.

I had never heard of the caves, but who doesn’t love a prehistoric mystery? Even though, as the droves of French researchers (seriously, these caves must sustain fifty grants alone) prove, archaeology is not done by dashing men with fedoras and whips; it’s done by poring over maps and data.

Especially when, due to the fragile nature of the caves’ ecosystem, the French government has restricted researchers’ access to one month of the year, and entirely banned the public. Herzog and his team got very special permission to film there for less than one month.

And once you see the footage, you’ll be thankful they did. One thing I appreciate as an American used t0 History Channel, sensationalist documentaries is that Cave of Forgotten Dreams didn’t rely on testimonies of experts and drag out the great reveal. Instead, we get to appreciate the amazing pictures, in their oscillating glory, early on. (Nice to know that artists 20,000 years ago are much, much better at rendering horses than I am).

The footage alone would make for a splendid, if slightly stilted, documentary – like the type that plays in museums in the background displays. But Werner adds his apparently infamous Herzogian take on human’s early artistic efforts. He asks one of the professor types about early man’s musical efforts, attempting to stretch the art of the caves to a giant allegory for WHY WE ARE HERE.

But it’s his touch that makes the film quirkier than a standard documentary. Herzog ends the film with some albino alligators, a move that has gotten some talking, but makes the whole experience stick in your mind. At the very least, the images of the caves will haunt you.

Want more?

Read the 2008 New Yorker article by Judith Thurman that piqued Herzog’s interest. Werner Herzog was interviewed by GQ recently, and the Paris Review. Learn more about the Chauvet Cave on Wikipedia, or check out the French government’s site.