If you go to see this documentary, you will learn pretty well everything there is to learn about the astonishing 30,000 year-old paleolithic paintings in the Chauvet Cave in southern France. The paintings and the beautiful cave are competently filmed and presented in almost loving detail. Various experts are called in to explain it all. The most amazing fact in the movie is that carbon dating has revealed that the cave was used for over 5,000 years for the same purpose.
The film maker and his crew had to deal with extraordinary restrictions, but they succeeded in showing in full 3D glory the importance and artistry of this cultural wonder. This is a place none of us will ever visit, but this film shows the movie goer exactly what it is like.
The downside is that this exposition is accompanied by far too much dialogue, including some that I can only describe as trite, irrelevant and rather pompous philosophising. There was also an incomprehensible postscript involving albino crocs. With great respect to Mr Herzog, I think much of this should have been edited from the film. I wouldn't say it ruined the movie, but it did leave one wishing it would end.
I realise that Mr Herzog wanted this to be more than a Nat Geo special, but I think most of us would have been much more interested in seeing visualisations and re-creations of the animals depicted and the lives of the paleolithic artists.
The film maker and his crew had to deal with extraordinary restrictions, but they succeeded in showing in full 3D glory the importance and artistry of this cultural wonder. This is a place none of us will ever visit, but this film shows the movie goer exactly what it is like.
The downside is that this exposition is accompanied by far too much dialogue, including some that I can only describe as trite, irrelevant and rather pompous philosophising. There was also an incomprehensible postscript involving albino crocs. With great respect to Mr Herzog, I think much of this should have been edited from the film. I wouldn't say it ruined the movie, but it did leave one wishing it would end.
I realise that Mr Herzog wanted this to be more than a Nat Geo special, but I think most of us would have been much more interested in seeing visualisations and re-creations of the animals depicted and the lives of the paleolithic artists.