The Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D

In 1994, researchers in the Ardèche River Valley in southern France made a stunning discovery. They discovered an entrance to a cave that had been sealed by a rock slide for over 20,000 years. In the crystal-encrusted interiors of the cave, christened the Chauvet Cave, they found not only the remains of numerous Ice Age mammals, but also quite a few wall paintings that were in incredibly good condition. To protect this discovery, the cave was sealed again and only a few people have had access to this spectacular place ever since. One of these people was filmmaker Werner Herzog, who was allowed to enter the interiors of the Chauvet Cave with a small team for a short time to capture the fascination and beauty of this cave in breathtaking 3D images.

From the brief hours of filming, which took place under extreme precautions, Herzog has created the documentary The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, enriched with quite a few interviews. Herzog, who has already staged great documentaries with haunting imagery in films like Grizzly Man, The White Diamond or Encounters at the End of the World, once again gives the viewer several fascinating and beautiful images. However, even if the 3D effect knows how to intensify this viewing experience, this work still has to contend with some problems that didn't weigh so heavily in Herzog's previous documentaries.

There's the fact that Herzog himself isn't a particularly engaging narrator. However, this is only really annoying here because the background music is not really rousing either, but sometimes soporific and sometimes extremely annoying. It may be that the somehow atonal seeming vocals are supposed to be artistically valuable. But for the harmony accustomed ear these sounds are simply exhausting, which does not do justice to the fascinating pictures at all.

The second problem is that the production is simply too drawn out. Sure, it's impressive what the researchers have discovered here. It is great that the interested viewer can at least visit this cave in the cinema with the help of the 3D shots. But the images and backgrounds provide material for an engaging 45 or 60 minutes at most. For 95 minutes, however, the whole thing is simply too little. Some of it is repetitive, some of it is extremely drawn out, just to extend this very special trip to feature film length. This is a pity, because The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is in itself an exciting documentary worth watching. However, the lengthy and at times somewhat exhausting production ensure that this 3D experience falls far short of its potential. Therefore: only with cutbacks just worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp