Cave of Forgotten Dreams (3D)
Prolific film director and documentarian Werner Herzog gained unprecedented access to the remote Chauvet Cave in southern France, where as recently as 1994 cave paintings believed to be 32,000 years old were discovered.
The director and his small crew were permitted a limited number of hours over a few weeks to shoot footage inside the limestone cave, the wondrous contents of which have been unseen by human eyes for centuries.
Herzog's accomplished use of 3D brings into relief the contours of the cave that the original artist-dwellers incorporated into their drawings to suggest movement in the wildebeest they rendered by firelight. The effect of being drawn into this pristine space, marked by the presence of human ancestors across thousands of years in time, is startling and unexpectedly affecting.
Herzog also narrates, inviting his audience to follow him on philosophical digressions that are as illuminating and engaging as the historical and scientific 'facts' he relates.
