The Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Cave of Forgotten Dreams poster

Recently I saw a preview of a 3-D documentary film by Werner Herzog, the Cave of Forgotten Dreams. It’s an amazing and powerful film and I suggest seeing the film when it comes out in theaters.

In 1994, a French scientist, Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered the Chauvet caves. In these caves full of sparkling stalactites and remnants of animal bones, beautiful paintings of cave bears, lions, horses, rhinos, bison and mammoths were found on the walls. These breathtaking animals were painted with fluid lines, shadowing, and some images even capture the movement of the animals. Carbon dating shows that the paintings were done over a period of at least 5,000 years. The first of the paintings were created at least 32,000 years ago — the oldest cave art known to science.

Towards the end of the film, one of the main scientists says that although there is no way to know why these paintings were created, it is obvious that these artists were trying to communicate a message and to immortalize a memory.

Check out the official trailer here. For a detailed look at the paintings see IMDB.