Rent Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Anyone want to see oldest paintings we know about on planet Earth? - Cave of Forgotten Dreams review by CP Customer

When it comes to some things I think the content is vastly more important than the technical or artistic merits, and that's certainly the case here. This is exclusive access to the oldest paintings man currently knows about - how could anyone not be intrigued by that?

Herzog admits that they were limited in terms of time, space, technology and even where they could film from and what lights they could use. So this was never going to be a cinematic masterpiece. That said, I think they did a superb job regardless and paid the paintings the appropriate amount of respect, making maximum use of the available light.

Just film of the paintings would have been enough for me, but it's accompanied by some lovely music, interviews with excavators and experts, and tied together with Herzog's very competent narration.

I was really grateful to be able to have such a good look at these paintings - what a rare privelege.

An awesome cave of fantastic importance - Cave of Forgotten Dreams review by JD

The extreme age of these sketches is so fantastic you cannot fail to be impressed. Cavemen capable of such lifelike drawings are so far from other non-human apes that I reconsidered their abilities. The film, the interviews and the commentary are dreadful. The modern man apparently more stupid than the caveman.

A very special experience. - Cave of Forgotten Dreams review by DW

My first viewing of this was in the cinema when it was first released. The fact that it was first shown in 3-D obviously added an extra dimension, quite literally, and possibly made this initial experience of it more intense and awe-inspiring. Subsequently I have watched it twice, in 2-D, and find it has continued to fascinate as well as educate. A few years ago I visited the caves of Peche Merle in South West France and while they are not quite on the scale of these in the film I found them utterly moving and truly memorable, very much in the way Herzog himself was affected by his experiences here.

I can find little fault in the director's narration. For me he explained clearly the restrictions he and the small crew were under. So restricted, in fact, that what they achieved in regards to the quality of the finished film, allowed the audience a unique sense of privilege so that they could witness, even at second hand, the wonder of the drawings found in the caves. Interviews with those involved with the initial and ongoing explorations were enlightening and augmented all that the cameras recorded.