An unforgettable journey

  • By Robert Horton Herald Movie Critic
  • Friday, May 6, 2011 12:01am
  • Life

In 1994 explorers in southern France discovered a cave beneath the limestone cliffs above the Ardeche River. They called the place Chauvet Cave, after the expedition’s leader.

What was so significant about this particular cave? Simply that it had been shut off from all contact with the world

(save for the trickling water that formed its amazing stalactites) by a rockslide that occurred 20,000 years or so ago, and thus perfectly preserved.

And within the cave are the oldest known representations of mankind’s creativity, in the form of stunning paintings on its walls. “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” is the filmed record of this place (access is strictly regulated to minimize damage).

That a documentary record exists of this find is enough to provoke curiosity. But this film was made by that legendary semi-madman and visionary Werner Herzog, who shot it in 3-D, which practically bestows must-see status right there.

Herzog doesn’t disappoint, even if the 3-D sometimes does. The interior of the cave is a fascinating place, and the paintings are a rich collection of horses, bears, lions and rhinoceroses, some of which are obviously now extinct (or southern France would be a much livelier place).

Herzog narrates in his buttery, German-inflected voice, which you will know very well if you’ve seen his other documentary work, such as “Grizzly Man” and “Encounters at the End of the World.” Of course he speculates on the lives of those ancient painters, and what their impulses might have been in setting down the world around them.

One thing that distinguishes this film from your average National Geographic documentary is that Herzog can’t help but be as interested in the people who move through this cave today as he is in the ancients.

And the 3-D? It has a few dizzy-making moments, but it fits the subject mostly because of the warped, curved surfaces of the cave walls; the technology really makes that aspect of the cave experience come to life.

Just when you think the movie’s been a little normal for a Herzog picture, he tacks on an epilogue that looks at a nuclear power plant 20 miles downstream from the Chauvet Cave, where the super-heated water heats up a strange little tropical greenhouse.

This film gives you information, but it also wants you to dream your way into the forgotten dreams. So don’t expect Herzog to hurry his way through the experience. Part storyteller, part shaman, he’s going to cast his spell if you’re willing to journey with him.

“Cave of Forgotten Dreams” (3½ stars)

Werner Herzog brings 3-D cameras into a hidden cave in the south of France, where the stunning paintings on the walls have been preserved for over 20,000 years. As expected with Herzog, this is not a normal documentary, but a dreamy excursion that unfolds at its own lilting pace.

Rated: Not rated; probably PG

Showing: Meridian

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