Computer animation and 3-D technology have bestowed upon the public a bevy of blockbusters and dozers of disasters. Some soared atop the box office charts while others faded quickly out of sight. 3-D is capable of more than merely blowing up every landmark in the world; it can also transport the views to locations they would have otherwise been unable to visit. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is one of those films which endeavours to transport the audience where no man has gone before.
Filmed in Chauvet Cave, in southern France, a series of Lascaux-like caverns which had been concealed for twenty-thousand years until uncovered by spelunkers in the 1990s, the documentary provides a looked into a tightly controlled environment inaccessible to the general public. Director Werner Herzog successfully captures the unique sights and sounds of the cave. The footage is rare and unique; the documentary is inconsistent at best.
Herzog triumphs when he exposes the viewers to works of art that have been hidden for millennia, depicting the daily life of prehistoric Man. Imagery of the hunt showing animals in motion, blurred as if painted by Futurists in the 1910s, and a fertility icon that appears in artwork across the globe is awe-inspiring.
Herzog fails when he expresses an existentialist philosophy in order to explain the significance of the cave paintings. His reach exceeds his grasp as aside from a few experts who contextualize the archaeological find, the art should speak for itself. The beauty of art is that a number of people can share the same experience and create their own private meaning.
The art appears similar to Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, made during a period of his life that was inspired by recently unearthed cave paintings. Picasso’s bulls and horses burst forth from the canvas like the buffalos charge across the Palaeolithic walls. Both works bring to life a moment frozen in time long ago. Others may value other aspects of the collection. But the albino alligators from a nearby greenhouse are a contrived appendix which mars an otherwise memorable conclusion. Greenhouse are a contrived appendix that should have been forgotten. **½