Review of Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) by Hunter D — 05 Jul 2011

Iâ(TM)m not a fan of 3D. Itâ(TM)s not something I hate by default, but rather, I feel itâ(TM)s a technique that has its place and potential, but is almost always misused. In most cases, 3D is cynically slapped onto blockbusters in an effort to jack up ticket prices, and for your extra buck, you get a dim picture, color loss, and muddy presentation. Really the only place I feel 3D has been used to proper effect until now is in trashy horror movies like Alexandre Ajaâ(TM)s silly Piranha 3D, where the unabashed joy of having sex and violence flying everywhere uses it for glorious base pleasure. Having things poking out at you is fun, letâ(TM)s just not call it high art, shall we? Many argue that it has been used to proper effect in blockbusters like Avatar, and while the use of 3D in Avatar was impressive, I enjoyed it more when I saw it in 2D, mainly because I could actually see the world James Cameron & company had created, not where the 3D demanded I focus my attention. Every time Iâ(TM)ve compared the 3D and 2D versions of a major film, 2D wins every time. This isnâ(TM)t the case for Werner Herzogâ(TM)s Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

This is the first time Iâ(TM)ve seen a movie that aims to use 3D as an essential tool and succeeds. Filmmakers like James Cameron and Michael Bay claim theyâ(TM)re using it to good effect, but their movies stand better off without it, whereas I canâ(TM)t imagine seeing this movie in 2D and it being nearly as engaging or absorbing. Herzog, a master filmmaker who has only grown more daring with age, explores the Chauvet Cave with his crew, a cavern in France that contains the earliest known cave paintings, making it what Herzog believes to be the âbirthplace of the human soul.â? What is striking about the paintings in the Chauvet Cave is that the artists used the natural contours of the walls of the caves to compliment their work, which largely consists of animals such as horses and bison. These contours and the way they shape the art in the cavern would not be visible without the use of 3D technology, they would certainly be apparent, but what makes it so remarkable would be otherwise lost without it. Without the use of 3D, Cave of Forgotten Dreams would be an interesting documentary, but not nearly as immersive, which is no doubt what Herzog was going for.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams isnâ(TM)t as burdened with grand questions as other Herzog documentaries that explore nature like Grizzly Man or Encounters at the End of the World. He certainly does make big statements, asks big questions, and conjures up bizarre scenarios (what would albino crocodiles think if they saw the paintings in the Chauvet Cave?). But these questions are posed and left for us to ponder, as the cave is left for us to absorb as a visual pleasure. We spend more time in this film absorbing facts than philosophy.

As a musing on the evolution of man and the emergence of human art, Herzog is already offering up a documentary that explores the sort of grand concepts he is wont to sink his teeth in. Certainly the images captured by Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man and the amazing underwater footage seen in Encounters at the End of the World are something to behold, and would not have been improved with the use of 3D. But Cave of Forgotten Dreams has a texture you can reach out and touch, using 3D to take us into mankindâ(TM)s earliest place of self-expression. Itâ(TM)s rare a documentary that seems to be more transportative in its ambitions, and completely succeeds. Seeing it at home on Blu-ray or DVD simply wonâ(TM)t do, it must be seen in 3D, at the movies.