A week ago I saw a wonderful film at the Sydney Film Festival called Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, a documentary filmed in 3-D and made by the German director Werner Herzog, who previously made a favourite film of mine titled Aguirre, the Wrath of God with music by Popol Vuh. This new film of his was shot in a cave in the south of France at a place called Chauvet. On the walls of the cave were hundreds of drawings of animals in charcoal and ochre that are between 30,000 and 33,000 years old. These were first found in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet whose name has been given to the cave. The drawings are both beautiful and skillfully executed which suggests that there were some accomplished artists around 30,000 years ago.
A panoramic view of part of a cave wall.
A small crew of four with only the amount of equipment they could carry, including Herzog who operated the lights, was granted permission to film inside the cave by the French Ministry of Culture. Most timely as the cave is now closed to the public. Despite being restricted to narrow metal pathways laid on the cave floor and for short periods of access inside the cave the filming is fabulous. The cave walls aren’t always flat so the 3-D technology takes care of that, displaying the depth of the substrate on which the drawings sit. In some places there are drawings that appear to have been made on top of earlier drawings possibly made many years apart. Due to the uneven surface and curvature of the cave walls these are not two-dimensional drawings.
A closer view of some of the drawings.
Herzog captures the eerie magic of the moment when the cave must have been lit by burning torches, the flickering of which has the effect of making the drawings appear to move as in a primitive animation. This is aided by the fact that some of the drawings have been made on top of each other but not necessarily in registration with the result that a 4 legged animal seems at times to be 6 or 8 legged. Notions of animation, theatre and the birth of cinema come to mind, as Herzog humbly suggests. He interviews several experts and manages to inject a cheeky humour into the subject. And I haven’t even mentioned the albino crocodiles!
This post was first published on the Doctor Comictopus blog.
-
Doctor Comictopus, an earlier alias for Michael Hill Ph.D (a.k.a. Doctor Comics) designed by Michelle Park.
Doctor Comics 
heejung says on July 6, 2011
Oooooh I didn’t think about the flickering lights making the drawings look like they’re in motion before but after reading your comment, it’s so true! This film was truly a magical experience for me. So glad they fixed the technical problem in the beginning. I would’ve cried if I didn’t see it! 🙂
Doctor Comics says on July 7, 2011
Thanks for the comment Heejung. I appreciate that. Yes the effect of the lights seemed a little like those early, flickery home movie film projectors of my childhood(before your time, ha-ha!). They used to run a bit slow and the image was jerky. I loved your review of the film and the enthusiasm and strength of feeling that you expressed in it. If you want to guest-blog it here you are most welcome.
kayrodriques says on March 3, 2016
This is a really great film and yes, the idea that this is/was early animation is mind blowing!
Doctor Comics says on March 3, 2016
Cheers Kay! It was a good Film Festival film. And I’m pleased you like the animation connection. Another film of Herzog’s that I really admire is Aguirre The Wrath Of God.