What are the chances that someone could make a compelling movie about 30,000-year old rock art? Incredibly, Werner Herzog pulls it off with Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which I saw this weekend on the big screen.
The archaeologists in the movie are terrific, and Herzog does a nice job answering all the basic questions a general audience are likely to have about this extraordinary cave in the south of France. Like some reviewers, I found the musical score distracting at times. Also, the ending (which has nothing to do with the cave) is bizzare and factually incorrect. But these are two minor qualms that don't detract from the movie's excellence. Here's an excerpt from a recent interview that Herzog did with Archaeology magazine: ARCHAEOLOGY: You've talked about how culture conditions the way we interpret images. Have we lost something between the modern day and the time of Chauvet? HERZOG: No, ...
