Customer Reviews

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray Combo)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I happen to like 3D in the theater and at home, so I want to speak to that aspect of this film.

Mr. Herzog saw the potential for 3D when he first visited the cave. He had to create his own, collapsible 3D equipment to fit through the hermetically sealed cave door, and it had to be manually adjusted for parallax depending on the distance to the image being filmed because access is via a walkway from which they could not stray. On the second visit they could use the knowledge from the first to gauge the length of extensions required to see images on the back side of pendant rocks and protrusions.

The end result is a 3D feast. The cave painters used the 3D shape of the rocks in the cave to give depth to their paintings. In one case the face of a ox is on one face of a rock and the flank of the beast corresponds to a bulge in the side of that same rock, around the corner, much as if you were viewing the animal. While the film and the paintings can be appreciated in 2D, the true artistry of the ancient painters can really only be appreciated in 3D, and Mr. Herzog was right to endure the extra hardship of lugging the 3D camera through the cave.

Bravo.

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"The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams"
(Directed by Werner Herzog, 2011)
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Given unprecedented access to the Chauvet Cave, a vast archeological repository located in the south of France, legendary director Werner Herzog and a minimal crew of four crawl through tunnels and balance on delicate metal catwalks, filming the extraordinary and breathtaking cave paintings found within. Herzog designed a lightweight, portable 3D camera, small enough to be brought into the cavern, so that he could capture the ways in which the ancient artists of Chauvet used the natural contours of the cave walls to enhance their artwork. Although often rough technically, it is the most meaningful use of 3D cinematography I have ever seen, placing viewers inside the space of the cave in a way that seems magical and unreal.

The Chauvet cave paintings were made over 30,000 years ago, depicting predatory animals such as bears and lions, as well as bison, rhinos, mammoths and perhaps most striking of all, a wall of beautifully rendered horses. The spiritual and artistic presence of these paintings is almost overwhelming, embued with primal, primordial history and an astonishing technical and aesthetic command: these pictures are both evocative and beautiful. Herzog approaches them reverently, and delights in their mystery, often shooting them in half-shadow or using moving, flickering light to suggest the rude torches used by their creators as well as the complete, total darkness that shrouded these powerful pictures for untold millennia. Throughout the film he intones in a soft European murmur, musing about the nature of human consciousness and the relationship of this ancient artwork to our own modern sensibilities: how much of the aesthetic and world view of this primitive culture do we carry about with us today? Some viewers may find the intellectualism and pretensions hard to take (as well as the often intrusive but oddly affecting score...) yet it is hard to deny the power of the subject.

You or I will never be able to go inside these caves -- they are closely guarded by the French government -- but in Herzog's film we can become immersed in them. Leaving the theater, walking in sunshine or under electric lights, you may marvel at the wonders that thirty thousand years of human life have brought - the works of stone and steel, plastic and glass, the layer upon layer of habitation and roads, the planes in the sky and the optical magic that brings art to life in films such as this. And, like Herzog and his crew, you may find yourself swept up by the connections we still have to the stunning pictures that lay hidden inside a dark cave for far more time than civilization itself... it is truly miraculous.

A highly recommended, deeply moving film - for the full effect see it in the theaters, if you can. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

The representations of the animals in these cave paintings is extraordinary. Done on cave walls, the black, what appears to be charcoal drawings, depict horses, lions, bears, bison, rhinos, mammoths, and even the bottom half of a woman. There are shadings on the pictures that are very modern looking, most reminiscent of the artwork of Joseph Beuys and Susan Rothenberg. My eleven year old daughter said "Why didn't we see this in school?" One idea in particular stuck in my mind: that they didn't have words or musical notation, so the only way they could communicate with the future was with these drawings. The esoteric mystic, Gurdjieff wrote something to the effect that true art will last for thousands of years, and that from within the artwork there will be a feeling from the artist, an essence of sorts that travels through time. It is hard to imagine that anything we make now will last as long. This movie is a must-see for anyone and everyone, as I think you can see the essence of how the artist was...

Director/documentarian Werner Herzog assembles a small film crew to explore a recently discovered cave in southern France. The cave is unique in that large, ornate wall art was found dating back more than 30,000 years. Twice as old as any others found. The government only allows scientists of various stripes into the cave and for relatively brief periods. There are several arrays of drawings, but it doesn't take 90 minutes to see them, so Herzog adds some interesting interviews with archeologists, art historians and the like. One of the young Frenchman is particularly interesting, especially telling one story of how Australian Aborigines felt about cave art.

A beautiful musical score is layered across the film which certainly adds a reverent quality. In fact, the score was recorded in an ancient church. There is a "special feature" that documents all this on the Blu ray disc. Ultimately, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. What material was used to produce the paintings? Why are only animals depicted? Why are there no trees, mountains...or people? This disc is in 3-D but I only viewed it in the 2-D format and the transfer is just fine, especially given the low light conditions inside the cave. I understand the 3-D version shown in theaters is spectacular.

As a huge fan of Werner Herzog, who in addition to being a great filmmaker is also one of our most noteworthy documentarians, I have seen almost everything that he has produced. In many ways, this piece about Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc in Southern France is one of the most simple and straightforward works from the prolific director. It is obvious from the first frame that "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" is a subject that is deeply personal to Herzog, and he treats the topic with unequaled reverence. The Chauvet Cave is a rare anomaly discovered in 1994. It was sealed by a rock slide for over twenty-five thousand years and so its contents--both geological and archeological--were found in an uncommonly good state of preservation. Herzog and a small crew were granted limited access to the cave to showcase its treasures which include elaborate stone drawings, hand and feet prints, and animal fossils and skeletons. The discoveries are dated at approximately thirty-two thousand years old, and so to have access to them is a rare treat that we'd have been unable to see (even human breath can harm the art) had it not been for this documentary.

Herzog takes a prominent role as narrator and interviewer as well, and he speaks to the various scientists and archeologists that are working at the site. In addition to the analysis of the drawings (sophisticated pieces depicting horses, lions, bears, rhinos, etc..), we get a bit of insight into primitive tools, hunting implements, and musical instruments. But clearly, Herzog's primary interest is in the drawings which are the most ancient examples of pictorial art known to exist. As haunting chamber music plays, there are plenty of long and stagnant shots of the various artwork. The entire documentary has a haunting, almost ethereal, church-like feeling. It's as if the cave itself represents a mysterious cathedral and the film takes it all in with long and loving detail. Not concerned with pacing or quick cut editing, we linger on the cave walls. It is undeniably beautiful and fascinating, but I'm certain that some will find this methodical presentation a bit uneventful. But it is, I'm confident, exactly what Herzog wanted--to present the film almost as if you were studying museum pieces. And through it all, he muses on the nature of humanity and our position in history.

3-D: The film and DVD utilize a 3-D presentation. It's the first time I've seen one Blu-ray disc contain both the 2-D and 3-D version. While the film is effective in 2-D, the 3-D does add an interesting element. As you might expect, this is not an out-of-the-screen presentation--the 3-D technology is used to give context to the natural surroundings. As many of the drawings are done around curves and crevices, the camera sort of glides along and the 3-D helps put this into perspective. It doesn't really change the overall effect of the movie, and is not necessary for your enjoyment of the film--but it is a subtle and lovely way to add another dimension to being inside the cave.

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" may not be for everyone. It requires a patience and a true appreciation of the subject matter. But if you are a fan of Herzog, or documentaries in general, this is a must-see. It has a understated, but haunting, quality that might get under your skin and stick with you. KGHarris, 11/11.

Visiting a zoo a few years ago, I had the fanciful thought that human beings first learned to feel emotions by observing animals; or, perhaps, that they learned to express them by imitating the outward appearance of animals. I remembered this thought while watching Werner Herzog's latest, "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams," in which he looks at the Chauvet cave paintings, allegedly made as long as 30,000 years ago. The most striking thing about them is that they do not depict any human beings. Only one drawing is said to depict a human figure -- a naked female body with no head, apparently -- but I personally couldn't see any resemblance. The animals, on the other hand, are all recognizable and much more detailed than you'd expect from art made by cavemen. There are running horses, woolly mammoths, lions and so on. The horses are the most life-like. Some are shown whinnying, mouths slightly open.

The cave was discovered very recently, in the mid-90s. Some of the paintings are so detailed that I confess to an initial twinge of suspicion that this could be some sort of modern hoax. But then I thought, no, a modern sensibility would probably draw a bunch of stick figures and come up with some fake creation myths and war stories or something human-centric. But the paintings only show animals, thus feeding into Herzog's main message on the difficulty of understanding these distant ancestors' mindset. The paintings are almost like an animal mythology, showing their battles and migrations. But there is no clear sign that the cavemen worship the animals religiously; it's almost as if they don't really make any distinction between the animals and themselves. One tries in vain to imagine such a total lack of detachment. It is easy to envision some kind of primitive spirit-world religion with rituals and sacrifices and dances around the fire and so forth. But in some sense, those rituals already stylize the spirit world and draw certain lines between humans and spirits. The very concept of spirits with supernatural powers requires some degree of abstraction. It's harder to imagine living so totally in the moment that one doesn't perceive any boundaries, and maybe doesn't really even have a clear sense of one's self. Although the cave does contain a stone with lots of little handprints -- some kind of artist's signature, maybe?

Herzog's narration makes similar points. As you might expect, he brings out a few weird people to comment on the topic. One guy, referred to by the inexplicable title "experimental archeologist," gives a rousing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on a caveman flute. Another guy claims that his lifetime of experience working with perfumes enables him to discover new caves by smell alone. This is mostly a distraction. Perhaps Herzog thought he needed some comic relief, or maybe this is his way of arguing that it is impossible for modern people to relate to prehistoric times. Or maybe he thinks it's deep, I don't know.

But he spends plenty of time in the cave itself, and has several long shots of the paintings. I did not see the movie in 3D, but even on an ordinary screen, you get lots of detail and colour. The paintings are monochromatic, but rich in shading. The cave itself is an unworldly sight, with unusual calcite crystal formations that take millennia to form. The calcite has preserved the skulls of cave bears who lived there thousands of years after the humans had left. Every Herzog film contains at least one indelible image, but here, all he has to do is let the camera run.

Also, I actually liked the ending in the nuclear hot-house, although it does feel simultaneously jarring and somewhat by-the-numbers, like a repeat of the iguanas from Bad Lieutenant. Still, I think it gets across the idea that thousands of years present impenetrable barriers to communication. The use of crocodiles, which are recognizably alive to human beings but different enough to seem alien, is effective.

This is one of Herzog's more low-key documentaries. Still, some viewers may be annoyed that there isn't more factual analysis and information. Considering that this may be the only film footage of the Chauvet cave that will ever be allowed to be made, one can ask if it was really necessary to spend precious time on the guy with the flute. This is a momentous occasion that is not necessarily well served by Herzog's engaging, but unsurprising ideas about humanity. However, the film successfully achieves its most important objective of presenting the cave paintings, and then making the viewer think about whether it is possible to relate, and by extension whether it will be equally difficult to relate to our own culture thousands of years from now. And, well, those horses are really something.

This video is great in the regular "2d" version. I watched it on my old plasma set and enjoyed it. The pacing is slow, but the thoughts and feelings of the movie stay with you and evolve after you've finished watching. The "3d" aspect gives the movie a different feel. While many people thing 3d is a gimmick (and let's face it, it's not quite perfect yet), the difference for this movie is striking. The scale of the cave becomes clear in 3d in a way that is not apparent in the usual version. Furthermore, the art has a different feel when you get a better texture of the space.

The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in southern France contains the oldest known cave paintings -- works of remarkable beauty and detail that are all the more amazing for being more than 30,000 years old. Since access to the cave is highly restricted, Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D is the next best thing to being there, and what a delightful, awe-inspiring tour it is. The 3D is used to terrific effect here -- you can practically smell the dankness of the caves, and you'll constantly feel the urge to duck stalactites -- and the paintings are gobsmackingly beautiful and haunting -- "the birth of the modern human soul," as Herzog describes it. If you don't have a 3D TV, the Cave Blu-ray/3D Blu-ray combo still allows you to check out the movie, but be aware: this is one movie that really does look better in all three dimensions.

I found this movie to be so worthwhile. I live in SW France near cave paintings at Pech Merle in France. These paintings are far more exquisite and far older. Herzog examines their significance from many points of view: visual art, paleontology, archaeology, history, sociology, etc. The various experts whom he interviews add many dimensions to undertanding their importance. If you are headed to the South of France on vacation and might be visiting any painted caves, watch this CD before you go. Excellent prep.

I just watched "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" tonight. The artwork in the cavern, though 30,000 years old, is nuanced and inspired. It is a deep, spiritual communication from a man sensitive enough to notice the muscles and planes in the face of a lioness, the body language of combat in battling rhinoceros, the shading and highlights along the figure of a horse. The artist left a personal touch...hand prints with a deformed finger. The small footprint of a boy is preserved, and a nearly magical crusting of sparkling crystals has encased the animal skulls that litter the cave floor. The demonstrations of flutes, artifacts and weapons found in the cave by devoted archaeologists is a poignant and personal insight into their consuming passion for this place...Herzog is very skilled at presenting these subtle revelations. The music is wonderful. There is a bonus film included which showcases the musicians and the making of the soundtrack. It is intimate and so incredibly beautiful, it moved me to tears.