Sunday, November 11, 2012

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2010)

Werner Herzog visits the Chauvet Cave in France where in 1994 scientists discovered prehistoric art and fossils dating back over 30,000 years.

If this film had only been 45 minutes long it would have been just fine, but at 90 it outlasted it's subject matter.  I enjoyed Werner's previous documentary feature ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (about scientists in Antarctica) because there was just so much to say and so many interesting characters and sights to see, but here all we have is a cave and some drawings on the wall.  Yes, it's very interesting and very important to document and preserve the cave, but as far as this film goes I just found myself bored after the initial shock of seeing the drawings.  Werner himself had only a few seconds of screen time and none of the people he interviewed were interesting.  It's all stuff we've see before.  Do I really need to see a guy giving a demonstration of how a spear works?  No.  Or a guy noodling on a ancient flute?  Not really.  Or a guy walking around sniffing the ground looking for maybe another cave?  Hell no.

Worth watching if you're into this sort of thing, but don't blame me if your mind starts to wander during the last half.