Werner Herzog's recent turn into a documentarian has always been very interesting to me yet up until now I had only seen Grizzly Man (an incredible film), which as expected turned out to be a terrible mistake on my behalf. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is an awe-inspiring look into the past and a Herzogian dissection of what makes the human soul so special and unique. While in the other documentary of his that I've seen he was in a constant state of disagreement with Treadwell, it seems like he was spiritually on the same wavelength with the cave explorers and scientists, but even more-so the artists who created these breathtaking rock-paintings all those millennia ago. I wonder what this must…

I don't watch a lot of documentaries. I think the reason is probably because I like to watch movies to escape, and documentaries can be more of a chore to experience than fictional films for me. In short, I have to be in the right mood to enjoy them. When a coworker said that his favorite director is Werner Herzog, I promised him I would check out some of his films. Now I totally understand why people love his films so much. I heard that a lot of his films are actually fictional, but this one seemed really real and true. I could be wrong, but I'm too lazy to do the research.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is about a…

I fully believe that you could give Werner Herzog a photograph of a cat being sick on a waffle and he would, with his dulcet Bavarian tones and unparalleled ability to look beyond the evident, make it seem the most profound thing humanity has ever encountered. He doesn't have to do a lot to make Chauvet cave seem just that, the many signs of primitive man giving us a glimpse into the roots of humanity even without Herzog's narrational input. His discussion of proto-cinema, as well as his typically probing interviews with experts, adds tenfold to the meaningfulness of the material, bringing refined depth to a subject already steeped in incredible importance. The final ten minutes of the film comprise…

The Chauvet caves are home to the oldest artworks known to man and thanks to a rockslide they have been perfectly preserved for tens of thousands of years. They are a time capsule to a civilisation 35,000 years ago, a time incomprehensible to many yet through the artwork and other artefacts there is a direct connection between past and present. The artwork is astonishingly beautiful, the way the artists attempt to create motion (given animals multiple legs as if running - a form of proto-cinema as Herzog describes it) is further accentuated by the undulating contours of the caves themselves. There are even pieces of artwork 5,000 years apart that exist on the same piece of cave wall like an…

It really is quite amazing seeing this cave and these drawings created by prehistoric man 32,000 years ago; not discovered until 1994.

Werner Herzog's one-of-a-kind narration - at once hyperbolic and human - adds another layer of excitement to what we see. You can't help but wonder about the lives of those who created these drawings. What is their meaning? Does it matter, really? I think it's enough just to see some connection to primitive society that is so pristine and pure, and, as they talk about in the film, relates to our humanness. It's not about concrete answers, but just appreciating the possibilities. The boy's footprints next to that of the wolf; the pattern of one man's palm print...fascinating.…

Herzog tries desperately to make the viewer understand the importance of the Chauvet cave drawings and succeeds. Through outlandish camera stylings and sound effects (including a heartbeat) Herzog brings to life one of the most odd and exquisite scientific findings in recent history. So cut off from the outside world, this cave has cinder from torches lit 30,000 years ago laying on its floor. That's hard to comprehend. Bear skulls are perfectly preserved. And a portrait of a naked woman sits on a hanging rock.

This documentary is well paced and lovely to look at. Herzog plays his beautiful interpretive self. He stretches the viewers patience with countless shots of painted horses and bison. But thanks to some excellent choices…

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. What follows is interviews with scientists/custodians of the cave, shots of the inside of the cave and commentary from Herzog.....

Fascinating look at some extraordinary pictorial representations from the dawn of mankind. We descend with Werner and his team into the darkness of the cave, into a world of a time long ago, remarkably preserved. The 3D for me is used to fantastic effect, the slight colour loss (compared to 2D) is a small price to pay for the ability to perceive that you are there in the cave with Werner. It is…

Usually, when I watch a documentary on TV on the History Channel(when it still was about history) or National Geographic, the most important aspect of the movie is that the content was covered well. However, with a documentarian such as Werner Herzog, I generally expect more. I expect extensive analysis and meaning in addition to the facts. With "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", although Herzog did a good, though not great job, with documenting a pristine French cave's paleolithic paintings, he dropped the ball on making the documentary more than just a few works on the past. Focusing mainly on two trips to the cave, Herzog links his two visits with interviews from various experts on the areas around him, but…