by Herzog film on Chauvet Caves
Bison from the End Chamber of Chauvet Cave – from Bradshaw Foundation
As most long time readers of my blog know, I am fascinated by ancient pictographs, petroglyphs and other art forms. They have been an inspiration in my own artmaking for over a decade.
So, I was thrilled yesterday to finally see Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary film Cave of Forgotten Dreams. It was as amazing and awe-inspiring as I had expected it to be from the many reviews I had read. I have previously seen gorgeous photos of the paintings in Chauvet Cave in books and on France’s Culture Commission’s online site, but seeing this film just blew me away. These early humans of so long ago were incredibly skilled artists.
The 3D glasses bothered me a little at first especially in scenes with a lot of movement, but it did not take long to adjust. They really did enhance the experience of the caves’ architecture and how the paintings of the various animals flowed with depth and movement along the curving walls. The discussions by Werner Herzog and the scientists were informative and enjoyable and made me wish I had been able to record some of them. If this film ever comes out as a DVD, I want it!
There are numerous great reviews of the film and articles about Chauvet to be found online. I suggest this interview of Herzog in Archaeology magazine as well as the pages of Bradshaw Foundation. I love these words about the film:
….glide through the cathedral-like cave, over cave formations and sloping passageways, across the beautiful 32,000 year old drawings. These scenes are interspersed by interviews with scientists musing on the cave’s mysterious beauty, the evolution of creativity and the nature of humanity. Operatic, gorgeously accomplished and truly unforgettable: this is an extraordinary glimpse at, perhaps, the dawn of art itself.
August 31, 2011 in Films, Rock Art & Archaeology by Marja-Leena
sounds pretty incredible. the children are looking at ancient history this year and will be asking you for your best resources! x
Oh, I would like to see that one! I can imagine that you would be pleased indeed to see it.
My daughter is starting a documentary film class, and she put one of Herzog’s films down as her favorite documentary on the questionaire.
Elisa, the children would love this film too, I think, for the caves are amazing. I’d have serious claustrophobia going through some of the narrow passages, sometimes on hands and knees.
Marly, I hope you find an opportunity to see it, knowing your interest in rock art too, and how it may give you additional inspirations for your writing. Your daughter sounds like a smart girl! I need to see more of his films…
Marja-Leena, was Chauvet the site of the most recently found big cave on the shore of a French river (forgot the name now)?
If, then I have seen a color photos in an English language book of it. It stated there at the end, that the cave will be closed, as people breathing might start destroying the pictures.
I’m very surprised to find out that Werner Herzog is making a film, then. He’s somewhat of a debated director, as you might know.
Ripsa, yes, it was discovered in 1994 on the River Ardeche (see the Bradshaw link), and yes the cave was closed. Herzog and a small crew were given special permission to access and film it under tight conditions such as only 4 hours a day access and staying on the narrow walkways.
Nearby Lascaux Caves, discovered much earlier, had to be closed due to mold damage. The French government built a replica for tourists, and it would not surprise me if they will do the same for Chauvet.
Herzog has won a lot of awards and recognition for his films in spite of some controversies, which I’m not familiar with.
Has this film come to Finland yet? I hope you will see it.
I will have my eyes open for being able to view this, possibly in Seattle.
Marja-Leena, I loved this film and am SO glad you were able to see it. It’s haunting.
Hattie, I do hope you will get a chance to see it.
Pica, I’m glad you saw it too, and yes, it is haunting. I can’t stop thinking about it and almost want to go see it again.
I would definetely see the movie if it ever would come here, but most likely not. The problem here is, that Warner Bro’s has bought a chain of Finnish movie theatres, and we just happen to have that.
Nothing else. Unfortunately, it means mostly Hollywood pulp production, cheapest and worst movies.
So I am hoping that it would be bought by our public broadcasting system YLE TV. Commercial channels hardly ever buy good documentaries. I am still wondering that it was Herzog who managed to get in to the cave.
He’s a very skillful director, but in some cases, overtly tedious. Have you seen his Fitzcarraldo?
Marja-Leena,
I would want to advertice a recent great event: opening of Finnish new Music House. My reason (aside this being great news!) is that a bit more recent history is in the very beginning of the Finnish public broadcasting TV, YLE, and that is a woman, Kristiina Ilmonen, starting up performances by playing a shepherd flute (flute is made of some tree bark).
In the beginning, before the initial talk, there’s already part of Kristiina’s playing, but after the speakers talk, about in five minutes, Kristiina has a real performance with this ancient instrument. After her performance, there is a women’s choir singing Kalevala.
The address is: http://areena.yle.fi/video/1314816480825
And it SHOULD be possible to hear it all over the world. I do know Kristiina, she’s from near from where I live. Old folk music is still alive.
OK, there’s a “small” time difference in Chauvet and Kalevala events, which last ones are dated only to Iron Age, but give it a chance! If I remember right, Chauvet caves paintings are 35 000-45 000 yrs old.
“Burden of Dreams” is a good peek at some of the controversies and accidents around “Fitzcarraldo.” I have not seen “My Best Friend,” the Herzog documentary about Klaus Kinski, but a number of Herzog difficulties must have stemmed directly from his love of working with Kinski, who was, indeed, controversial.
Oh I would like to see this!
Ripsa, I’m sorry to hear about the foreign film situation in Finland. The good news I hear is that the Finnish film industry is booming.
I don’t recall ever seeing any of Herzog’s other films. TV programming is pretty bad here too unless you want to pay extra for movie channels, most offering only the lowest common stuff. We don’t watch much, just the odd DVD from the library, but it’s hard to find a large selection of foreign films.
Ripsa, thanks for the link to the YLE coverage of the opening of the new Finnish Music House, which I’ve also read about and looks stunning. I’ve only looked at the video for a few minutes but will watch it later tonight when I have some time. As you know, I do love anything to do with the Kalevala. Sure it’s not as old as Chauvet (32,000) but the Iron Age is old too. And how exciting that your friend was performing there too.
Marly, I see you are something of a fan of Herzog films, and put me to shame with my ignorance. There is one video/DVD shop in Vancouver that has been around for decades and carries a fantastic selection of foreign and art house films. We haven’t used it because it’s too far from us. Now sadly they are closing, as have all the other movie rental shops. I guess we have to resort to downloads or Netflix, etc.
Lucy, I’m sure you would love it. Have you ever visited any of the caves in France, such as the replica of Lascaux?
I had an art teacher once who reckoned that cave painters and one or two of his contemporaries (and Picasso, sometimes) were the only people who really understood how to translate life into valid drawings. He was no fan of classical drawing techniques which he derided as “measure and plot”.
Joe, that’s interesting and I think I know what he meant. The fluidity and expressiveness of a quick flowing line vs the static and stiff.
Hey, you’ve never told me you took art classes.
I don’t watch so many movies any more, though I did watch a lot when I was younger. It started to bother me that so many novels were structured like movies, and so I quit watching so many. I didn’t want to write books like that. Maybe it seeps in, or maybe people just write books they wish to be movies!
And I can’t see much where I live now–just on netflix, and I never get an order in because the rest of the family orders often. When I see a movie, it tends to be because it’s something a child of mine wants to see.
Marly, ‘novels structured like movies’ – now that’s an interesting observation I was not aware of, but does make sense these days with the number of movies being made.
In my youth, I went to the movies a lot because we got free tickets from the family that owned the major theatre, via my mother who worked for some of them.The theatre was a grand one with a balcony, plush seats and chandeliers and all – a glorious experience compared to today. I missed that when I married and moved away.
Much later, watching the movies the family rents has been true for us as well, and has lessened as the family has shrunk. Winter nights we’re a little more inclined occasionally look for something in the library for ourselves. We rarely go to the movie theatres.
We’ve been fans of Herzog for many years too and have seen most of his films (deliberately passed on Grizzly Man). A couple of my other friends have seen it already so I’m looking forward to when it plays in town.
We saw this several weeks ago. I’m afraid I made the mistake of watching it with several tipsy Germans and students of German. Herzog’s accent and measured style of speaking already had us giggling, but then near the end, when the albino croc was staring into the camera and Werner was asking, “Vhat vould zis Krok heff sought about ze nuklear plents,” we just fell apart. I was quite pleased to be taken into the cave, which has interested me since I saw pictures of it in National Geographic long, long ago. I’d like to see it again, but I intend to turn on the subtitles and douse the audio. Am I bad?
Susan, so you are a fan! I’ve a lot of catching up to do then. Let me know what you think of ‘Cave’…
rouchswalwe, what a giggle fest you had :-). I’d like the DVD with subtitles so I can catch everything, for I did miss some of the speech.