Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Dir: Werner Herzog
2010
*****
No one makes a documentary like Werner Herzog. I'm a fan. Listening to his voice alone is enough to hypnotize me but so as to give this film a fair rating, I shall put that to one side. First off, I knew nothing of this cave, it's existence or discovery. That really surprised me, as I'm into my art, history and art history, so thank you Mr. Herzog for that. To be honest, even if I had seen it on a typical history channel/channel 4 hour long documentary, I probably would have missed or forgotten it because as well as the detail and facts involved, you also always get a poetic and human perspective from Werner that no one else even tries to achieve. It's not just the cave paintings themselves that are explored but the other details within the cave that I found fascinating. This could have been your average boring 'School lesson' documentary but what Herzog gives us is quite a profound insight into our own existence and what we are, what we've come from and what we will become. When did you last hear anyone ask 'When was the birth of the human soul' or 'Will albino crocodiles ever make it to the caves and wonder what they mean'? You've got to love Werner.