Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 124
Fresh: 119 | Rotten: 5
Hauntingly filmed and brimming with Herzog's infectious enthusiasm, Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a fascinating triumph.
Average Rating: 8.7/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 0
Hauntingly filmed and brimming with Herzog's infectious enthusiasm, Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a fascinating triumph.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 10,673
Movie Info
Cave of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It's an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago - almost twice as old as any previous discovery. -- (c) IFC Films
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer & Photos
All Critics (126) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (5) | DVD (5)
It is our tour guide that makes Cave of Forgotten Dreams an often thrilling experience.
Top CriticThe overall effect, aided by Ernst Reijseger's score of rising choral harmonies and lush strings, is rapturous.
To call "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" a great movie isn't just an understatement, it's a wildly inaccurate way to describe an experience that, in its immersive sensory pleasures and climactic journey of discovery, more closely resembles an ecstatic trance.
This is something more than a movie; it's a testament - and re-creation - of rapture.
Art history lessons don't get much better: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" presents the world's oldest paintings captured by one of film's great visionaries.
What we get from this film: a specific and personal sense that 32,000-year-old artists, with all their ideas and passions, were not, fundamentally, that different from us.
Another lovely stanza in the epic poem of humanity that Herzog has been writing for half a century.
Es indudable la capacidad del director por intentar, a través de la cámara, lo mismo que intentaron aquellos hombres y mujeres del Paleolítico unos 30.000 años atrás: comunicarse, expresar sentimientos y emociones, crear belleza.
... captures the space, the texture, the quality of color of these ghost-like paintings, like shadows of the past captured on the cave walls.
Confirmation, if any was needed, that culture and civilization existed 25,000 years ago and that we have gone downhill since the introduction of private property.
These images of what the world was increase my sense of awe at what the world is.
Werner Herzog's exploration of the miraculous Chauvel Cave comes with it evidence that human kind is indeed wired to believe in the hypnotic and poignant Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is one of Herzog's most memorable films. Its subject, the 32,000-year-old drawings on the wall of the Chauvet Cave in southern France, is so astonishing that even Herzog's amiable sidetracks can't destroy the wonder.
There is nothing gimmicky about Herzog's use of 3D in Cave of Forgotten Dreams. The depth of field afforded by the 3D format gives the viewer an uncanny spatial awareness of the site.
Herzog has used the 3D process with tremendous creativity to make this very beautiful film.
This is what 3-D was made for, puncturing the proscenium and taking us somewhere ''not yet offended''.
Making superb use of the 3-D, and marked by Werner Herzog's idiosyncratic sensibilities, this contains enough captivating moments to make it a must-see.
What is astonishing about the (32,000 year old) drawings discovered in the Chauvet Caves ... in southern France is that they look much like the drawings of competent contemporary art students
It's hard not to think of Han Solo's neck unnaturally shifting to dodge a CG bullet as French archaeologists gape in awe at the beautiful untouched works created by Homo sapiens past
To puzzle over these questions with Herzog makes for a singular and rapturous viewing experience.
If this really is the last time anyone will be allowed to shoot inside of this archeological marvel, I can't help but feel that it was something of a waste.
This nature and art documentary by Werner Herzog delivers an astonishingly privileged look at a subterranean time capsule.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a 30,000-year leap of faith. Werner Herzog, after tiptoeing through the transforming cave, says, "Nothing is real. Nothing is certain." As an artist, he seems to like it that way.
...might have been a worthy film at 60 minutes long, but then it wouldn't have been a Herzog film. The difference is the difference between a film about art, and a film that is art.
What you see in the film is awe-inspiring.
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Movie: ID: 771208642 Title: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Release Date: 2011-04-29 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 1 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Die Höhle der vergessenen Träume (DE)
- Caves of Forgotten Dreams (UK)
The film was shot on a strict set of rules, and in 3D. I didn't unfortunately get to see it this way, but I could tell that it was used effectively given how the paintings are done on the curves of the cave walls instead of flat canvases. The film is actually really straightforward and seems like a typical documentary. Of course, it's not completely that way, as Herzog's unmistakable voice and way of speaking dominate the proceedings, but it really is pretty basic stuff. Granted, it's still a good film, despite this, and its important due to the subject matter, but it doesn't stand out like Herzog's other stuff does. I do appreciate how the paintings are treated and analyzed as art though, but while I do like it when he features eccentric talking heads, it all felt really repetitive and tedious here.
I'm probably being just a tad kind to this film, mostly because I love Herzog, am a history student, and work as a tour guide in a cave, but those biases aside, this is some good stuff, just kinda uneven in its presentation.