Cave of Forgotten Dreams (filmed, documentary, director, picture)

[OzzyRules]

Has anyone seen this. What did you think of it?

I read something about it and it sounded interesting. But then I watched the trailer and I was a little less enthused. It's about an archaelogical finding in France. Ancient drawings found inside of a cave. But I got the impression it was hyped up or something. I'm not as excited about seeing it now. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

Hopefully someone knows more about this film.

[Mooseketeer]

I really enjoyed the Film BUT I am an Archaeologist and have a fascination with Prehistoric engraved and painted caves. I have visited pretty much every single one which can be visited in France and Spain.

Werner Herzog has always been a very unique director and his personality is imprinted upon every single sequence of the film. It is basically a documentary about the "Chauvet" cave ( discovered only a few years back). His commentary can at times feel distinctly odd and a little off the beaten path ( and thus unintentionally quite funny) but I loved being able to descend into a cave I shall never have a chance to visit as the Cave will always be closed to the public.

Prehistoric Caves are simply mind blowing. A descend into the mind and soul of our Ancestors so to speak. A place to truly connect with our roots. The paintings are beautiful, fluid and elegant. They show not only that art was well and alive 35000 years ago but that our ancestors understood the concept of perspective, and the concept of relief , a deep understanding of animal physionomy being evident in every single stroke.


The film is beautifully filmed and the intent I feel from Werner Herzog was to give a sprititual dimension to the place. The lighting is necessarily eerie and dim, the pictures dancing in a subdued light.

Nothing like a film will ever come close to the real thing. Being in a place which was frequented by our ancestors , where art and spirituality came to fuse is one of the most humbling and moving experience you can imagine. It opens a new world of understanding about our past and a new respect for whence we came.

I would encourage anyone who ever visits the Dordogne in the South-West of France to visit some of the caves, "Fond de Gaume" and "Pech Merle" are two of the best. Lascaux the most famous of all is sadly no longer open to the public to damage done by breathing from visitors but a perfect Fac-Simile has been recreated a couple of hundered metres from the site and you would never know it was not the real thing.

Other caves like the " 100 Mammoth" caves is wonderful , you can even see where prehistoric bears nested and their claw marks still etched into the rock. "Cap Blanc" has a "sculpted" relief of horses on the rock which is breath-takingly beautiful.

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" is worth seeing because it shows you something nobody who is not an expert will ever see. Werner Herzog is not famous for being restrained but the point of this beautiful place does come across.

I hope he will do one about the "Cosquer" Cave, another painted cave ( a marine one this time , access is only to divers as the cave can only be accessed by diving) which I will never be able to access and one which shows marine animals which is incredibly rare.

[OzzyRules]

Thanks for the comments, Mooseketeer.