Movie You Should See: Quest for Fire
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Rae Dawn Chong in Quest for Fire |
While 10,000 BC was an over-hyped, glamorized, film that simultaneously gave too much credit to primitive humans and, at the same time, not enough, Quest for Fire takes place in 80,000 BC, at a time when there are scattered tribes of humans all at different levels of cultural advancement. These are dirty primitives, they appear parasite-ridden, some are lame, unkempt, and malnourished, as they would appear during such an era.
The film follows the Ulam tribe, which does not yet know how to make fire, and must continually feed their bonfire to keep warm. When another tribe attacks, the Ulam’s fire is extinguished, and three members of the tribe must venture out to find a flame and bring it back. Along the way these cavemen will face sabertooth tigers, mammoths, cannibals, cave bears, and tribes more advanced than their own.
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Cavemen Adventurers in Quest for Fire |
As all dialogue is spoken in fictional languages without subtitles, we rely entirely on the actors’ actions to convey the social dynamics and primitive minds, and they are truly primitive, grunting and lurching on the screen like our primate descendents. The film is like watching a documentary with a dramatic plot, and it is rewarding watching human culture evolve on the screen as the cavemen learn concepts we take for granted.
So add this one to your netflix, it’s what 10,000 BC should have aspired to, a much more historically accurate film.
I last saw the movie in 1981 and i would be more than happy if i could get to down load a copy.Can any one tell me how
Comment by steve amonde — May 13, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
Fictional languages? I just remember grunts, though it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie.
Definitely a classic.
Comment by chriggy — May 13, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
Oddly enough, I taped it from “MorMax” on 6/14/1999 and never watched it. Carolyn, did we abort this one?!?! I seem to remember thinking it was a children’s movie and perhaps having the wrong impression, or we just weren’t in the mood for grunts at the time.
Comment by ClintJCL — May 13, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
(Cause it sounds cooler than I thought, by Ryan’s review!)
Comment by ClintJCL — May 13, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Definitely not a children’s movie.
Comment by chriggy — May 13, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
Hmmm. Well, there’s always a bright side. Instead of watching it in VHS on a 36″ TV, I can watch it on DVD on a 52″ TV :D
Comment by ClintJCL — May 13, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
I seriously doubt this has been recoded to HD, so your TV isn’t going to help you much. Might even look worse.
Comment by chriggy — May 13, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Uh… Wrong.
Comment by ClintJCL — May 13, 2009 @ 10:23 pm
Just re-watched it last night. I probably tried to watch it near the time it came out, but my memory is faulty. I remembered little. So watching it last night was terrific. Surroundsound was awesome. Highly recommended. A classic.
Comment by Red Grout — July 21, 2009 @ 10:34 am