Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is nothing short of incredible. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter stated “to call this movie fascinating is akin to calling the Grand Canyon large,” and he is absolutely right. In 2010, Werner Herzog released Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a feature-length documentary that literally explores the Chauvet Cave, in the South of France. The Chauvet contains the earliest known cave paintings, and is nearly inaccessible. To explain how incredible of a find this cave was, the first archeologists who explored it thought that the drawing were counterfeits, because they were in such prime condition. Soon after, carbon dating revealed that the paintings were in fact authentic. There is a moment in the film when a drawing of a Bison with 8 legs is being shown. The legs are staggered, to give the impression that it is running; a form of “proto cinema,” as Herzog puts it. This is just one example of the incredible content of this film.

Herzog is in no way new to filming in dangerous and difficult locations, from the rapids of Peruvian rivers, to the South Pole, but this was a new challenge, even for him. Inside the cave, the crew had to be limited to four people, including Herzog. They could only walk on two-foot wide platforms, that were spread through ought the cave, to ensure that no damage could occur. This meant that there were times when the crew had “no hiding places to get out of the shot.” They also were prohibited to use lights that gave off any heat, for this reason they used several battery powered LED panels. As if all of that wasn’t enough, the films producer, Erik Nelson convinced Herzog that the film should be shot in 3-D. For those not familiar with the process, 3-D film production typically requires two cameras, which are calibrated on a 3-D rig. This means twice the weight and twice the bulk of a typical motion picture camera. The majority of the film was shot on the Silicone Imaging SI-3D, a “single” camera specifically designed for three-dimensional imaging. There were times though where the SI was too large, and they had to shoot on Cannon DSLR’s, or even Flip cameras. Despite all of these difficulties, the film is nothing short of beautiful. To add to that, Ernst Reijseger composed an original score, comprised mostly of strings, that is nothing but appropriate for the film.

As much as Cave of Forgotten Dreams is about the Chauvet, it is also about the people working within it. The film does not simply take a one-sided, scientific approach, but rather a human one. Herzog wants to discover who the people were who were once in the cave, as much as he wants to find out who the people are who are now in the cave. No matter how you look at it, this is a film that should not be missed. Dana Stevens said “if you’re a member of the human race – you owe it to yourself to see this movie.” That about sums it up.