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Cave of Forgotten Dreams Blu-ray Disc Review

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (BLU-RAY)

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2010, Blu-ray released November 8, 2011 – MSRP CDN$ 39.99)

THE FILM: ★★★★☆ 
VIDEO: ★★★½☆ 
AUDIO: ★★★★★ 
EXTRAS: ½☆☆☆☆ 
BLU-RAY: ★★★½☆ 


NOTE: THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE CANADIAN BLU-RAY RELEASE OF THE FILM FROM ALLIANCE.

    Cave of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It’s an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago – almost twice as old as any previous discovery.

I like to have my mind blown. When I saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams in theatres a while back my mind got severely blown. Werner Herzog‘s 3-D journey into the Chauvet cave documents some of the most amazing art on the planet. It left me speechless. 30,000 year-old cave art rendered in amazing 3-D amplifying all the contours of the caves took my breath away. I would have been amazed had contemporary artists crafted such masterpieces. Needless to say, I was excited about the Blu-ray release.

Unfortunately, I was reminded of my initial concerns with the film. Due to technical constraints all the footage was shot on ” a tiny non professional rig” and was all lit by heatless on-camera lights and headlamps. Dark, dank caves are not ideal shooting locations. The colors are unsaturated, the blacks are weak and the shaking hand-cam on exterior shots just left me disappointed. The video was choppy at times as well, it was a bit jarring and inconsistent. The video wasn’t as sharp as it could have been and often blown-out. All this leads me to believe the problems stem from shooting originally in 3-D, the best way this film should be viewed. Its presented in 1080p, 1.78:1, widescreen here.

As for sound, Herzog’s Bavarian bizarreness is exemplified throughout most of the film as he narrates over Ernst Reijseger‘s wonderful score. It might not always look as beautiful as it should but at least the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track always sounds beautiful.

The disc has little in terms of extras: trailer, dull photo album of old men doing weird things and upcoming releases. Boring. How about some more background information on the caves, or a visit to other caves, or more interviews by Herzog asking people random questions? Herzog broaches big philosophical question in the film but I just want to know why they skimped on the extras on the Blu-ray.

So while the content alone warrants a viewing, the disc itself is a bit of a let down and not on par with the subject at hand.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The US Blu-ray edition of the film from MPI, which will be released next week, November 29th, is on 2-discs and features both 2D and 3D versions of the film, along with “Ode To The Dawn Of Man“, a 40-minute doc about the making of the score for the film.

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    Posted by Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of November 29 | December 4, 2011, 11:30 pm

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