Your remarks, Jamie and David, concerning Herzog and his 'Grizzly
Man'--which I've seen large parts of on TV before (didn't know it was
Herzog's)--are also rather relevant to Herzog and Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Because any documentary that deals with the Chauvet paintings can hardly
escape the profound focus of those charcoal paintings on animals. Some of
them carnivorous, such as lions, bears, and owls. Many of them not, such as
rhinoceri, mamoths, and ibek.
What is Herzog's attitude to the human/animal relationship in Cave of
Forgotten Dreams? Well, the ending stands out something like a sore thumb.
Basically Herzog suggests that the way we view the old people and their art
is necessarily rather like an albino crocodile views things outside its
cage. We have evolved to a kind of mutant reptile state, he suggests, and
can barely appreciate or understand the old people or their relationship
with the animals. The cage of civilization has long-since severed our
relationship with nature and the animals to the point where we can hardly
understand or appreciate how it was with the old people, he suggests.
Which might mean that in 'Grizzly Man,' Herzog's attitude toward his human
subject was that he was kidding himself if he thought he had in any real
sense recaptured that relationship. Which might mean that Herzog's
"portentous parable about our relations with the 'natural world'" is very
heavy on a permanent and irredeemable fall.
ja
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