Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Werner Herzog has produced a simple and eloquent account of the rock art and history of the Chauvet Caves. Discovered in 1994 by three independent cave seekers, the caves had been sealed by a rock fall which allowed the art to remain undamaged over the last 25,000 years. Much of the cave drawings were done in a previous period, between 30,000 and 32,000 years ago–the caves are truly a bewildering record of another time, indeed a time before history.

One of the drawing groups shows a cave bear claw marking, then an outline of a bison is presumed to have been drawn by a human six feet in height but with a stick, additional drawings then appear lower down, and five thousand years later the last animal is included in the group. We live now in a period when art movements change by the decade, we record our transactions and even our most mundane thoughts, and so we find it easier to stay focused on the history of our nation, of our Western culture, as if the beginning was a defined marker that concluded with us, now, here. But 25,000 years ago was long before Herodotus, Vico, Hegel or Einstein could begin to define time and space. Herzog and the scientists who are working in the cave during his brief visit there permitted by the French Cultural Agency offer a warm reminder of stillness, and pure appreciation. Appreciation in which knowledge seeks but does not expect answers because as one of them says there can be none.

Along with the caves, Herzog interviews the assorted anthropologists, art historians, paleontologists and others who have been granted permission to be in the sealed and guarded caves for the two weeks at the end of March when the cave is opened for such researchers. They are all deeply considerate people with smiles when they discuss their research, and a respect that is full of kindness for the wonders that they see in the caves. One of them, who had worked in a circus in his previous career as a juggler and unicyclist, spoke of the dreams of lions both real and drawn that he had the first five days he was working in the cave. They were not frightening dreams but revealed the depth of response he was having, At the end of the fifth day, he decided not to reenter in order to give himself time to...he stopped to think of the word, which Herzog offered from the other side of the camera...absorb.

The leader of the group at one point calls for silence so that they can all hear the sound of the cave and, he adds, perhaps the sound of their own hearts?

With such advice as part of the guide to the caves, the movie provides an inspiring and wonderful look at caves that will never be open to the public. After the Lescaut caves started developing mold from the spores in visitors' breath, they were closed. Any caves found hereafter will be unlikely to permit visitors in order to keep the works pristine. And the ones at Chauvet are so clear that they are particularly protected.

There is a two foot wide walkway from which none are allowed to stray that goes most of the 1700 feet through the assorted cave chambers. The walkway is cut out in places to avoid injury to the stalagtites. Herzog's crew of four does an admirable job of setting up shots along this narrow path, and lighting with the bright lanterns that they have been permitted to bring.

The possibility exists that it was a ceremonial site as there is a peculiar block with a cave bear skull placed on it as if on an altar. There are a great many cave bear bones, as well as cave lions, bisons, hyenas, and other animals; some bones got covered in calcite and resemble porcelain sculptures of a vertebrae, or even an entire skull.

At least one human has been identified from a wall of palm prints with a broken right pinkie finger. That hand reappears all throughout the cave, which means that however many painted with charcoal, or just their fingers in the soft wall, one is personally identified.

With a bewildering array of 3D options in the cinemas currently, this is the only film that has been able to use 3D in order to better represent the subject matter of the film, in this case the experience inside the caves and the drawings found inside. In this photograph, we can see animals gathering on both sides of what appears to be a crevice, with a horse seen in the furthest reaches. The crevice is noticeably deep when seen in three dimensions, clearly reduced in this image. Of additional interest on this drawing, however, is the circle slightly right of vertical center, nearly at the top of the photograph. That is a hole from which water pours if there are continuous rains for at least a week. This natural feature seems to make sense of the cluster of animals drawn, as the real ones would have gathered at a pool caused by a natural stream.

Some art documentaries are boring, or focus on the artist rather than the work, or the historical period rather than the liveliness of the arts produced. Herzog has produced a deliberate and masterful film full of the natural beauty in the Chauvet caves. If you have the opportunity to see the film in theaters, you will enjoy these works in all the shapes and sizes which they take, and perhaps even take some time to yourself...to absorb.