Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Dreams are illusive. As quickly as the lucid state of consciousness comes upon us and delves our minds into fantastic reality, we awake with images and glimmers of events that possessed our minds in a mysterious period of time. We remember what we can and maybe even hide those dreams that shake our senses. There are countless deciphers of dreams; psychologists, mediums, doctors, coworkers and friends. We search for the meaning of our dreams and often find ourselves with more questions than answers. In Werner Herzong's Cave of Fogotten Dreams, Herzog is given access to a shut away world of the past. That past is in the Chauvet cave in southern France. The cave holds ancient drawings and artifacts, preserved in a pristine state. The paintings on the wall depict a time forgotten by our modern world. The drawings speak of a peoples life, world, and dreams.

Though Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a document of the discovery and scientific thoughts about the cave, it seems that Herzog's interest go beyond those modes of understanding the cave. Herzog's intentions of discovering the meaning of the images on the caves walls and their importance seems to be more of the obsession for him. Herzog's time was limited in the cave and so his crew captured as much of the accessible parts of the cave as possible. Cave of Forgotten Dreams was originally released in cinema's in a 3D. Herzog intentionally shot the interior of the cave walls in 3D so as to come as accurately as possible to sharing the symmetry of the cave walls with the rest of the world. With the release of the film on Blu-ray or DVD one could watch the film in 3D or 2D. This post about the Cave of Forgotten Dreams is written with the 2D version in mind.

The centerpiece of Cave of Forgotten Dreams are the cave paintings. The cave paintings are mostly of animals; cave bears, horses, lions, rhinoceros and others. One part of the caves wall is covered in hand prints in red coloring. What is awe inspiring about the primitive art is the freshness of the drawings. The cave has kept near perfect drawings even after the passing of centuries. Herzog focuses on more than the drawings but rather what the artist/s has tried to depict with the drawings. The animals are not just a drawing on cave walls but there is a story that is being told. Some of the animals have more than the appropriate number of legs. Herzog describes these animals as being in motion. This motion is in a way a primitive cinematic experience. Herzog imagines the light from fires casting their flickering shadows on the walls of the cave at night. Each flicker of shadow like the passing of a film cell through a projector. When the drawings are combined with the contours of the cave walls the animals further  come alive. Herzog can only speculate what the stories on these cave walls were. Even those interviewed can only see the importance of the images in an anthropological and archeological sense. But one can always imagine the stories and even the dreams of these people and Herzog tries to get us as close as possible to those dreams.

Throughout the film Herzog detaches the film from an informational documentary to a film that just captures the time and place. The cameras pan and move through the cave. The shots are sometimes wide panoramic views of the cave and then there are close-ups of the animals and the intricate design of the animals. Herzog's crew passes a light over the drawings, trying to recreate the shadows that might have existed with a fire or sunlight of century's ago. Coupled with these shots is the operatic soundtrack that adds a sense of grandeur and opus to the images. It may be a bit heavy handed but this is common Herzog device to illicit awe in the world in which he is filming. What Herzog may really be trying to do is not put music to his film but rather the story that is on the cave walls. It is as if our more modern music could capture the scope of the potential stories that the cave has to offer. In one section Herzog interviews a scientist who talks about a primitive flute that was found in a similar cave. The scientist plays the Star Spangled Banner with the flute but one can see that for a civilization years beyond our comprehension there may very well have been a full experience of sight and sound in their story telling. The primitive flute may have added a layer to the ancient story telling of the cave paintings. This further  taking the cave paintings and making them extra sensory and beyond the everyday world of those people. Just as filmmakers today put us in worlds beyond ourselves with various cinematic aesthetics and technologies.

Herzog's exploration of the Chauvet cave is an exploration of the dreams of a people long gone. Their only remains can only offer us so much just as our dreams leave us with such little. Our dreams are no different from those of centuries past. Sure our tools and worlds are different, but we are still grasping at wonder and searching for the purposes of our dreams. At the end of the film Herzog tells us that the cave is being even more restricted due to the discovery of mold on the caves walls due to the explorations that have taken place. There is still much more to explore but time has a way of breaking down the dreams and desires. Langston Hughes once wrote that there are two ends to all dreams, fulfilled and unfulfilled. Both are tragedies. Such is the Cave of Forgotten Dreams.


" No other art-medium—neither painting nor poetry—can communicate the specific quality of the dream as well as the film can. When the lights go down in the cinema and this white shining point opens up for us, our gaze stops flitting hither and thither, settles and becomes quite steady. We just sit there, letting the images flow out over us. Our will ceases to function. We lose our ability to sort things out and fix them in their proper places. We're drawn into a course of events—we're participants in a dream." - Ingmar Bergman

Tokyo Olympiad

Competition has a way of bringing out the true character in ones self. It is possible that by exposing ones character in a competitive realm that those competitors would be able to come to some sort of understanding about each other. The modern Olympic games began in 1896, nations from around the globe came to compete in varying events to showcase not only ones national talent but also to demonstrate that competition through athletics was better than competition through war. Unfortunately some of the Olympic games have been cancelled due to war or have been boycotted by differing nations over political purposes. This year athletes will once again come together in London to compete in the summer Olympic games. With each Olympic games the host country designates certain filmmakers to document the events of those games in a manner that is fitting. In 1964 at the Tokyo Olympics Kon Ichikawa documented the games, in what many critics feel to be as one of the most important documentarys of the Olympics. Tokyo Olympiad is more than a film that retells the events of that years games but rather is a piece that delves into the soul of Olympic games and the peaceful balance that comes from competition.

The opening of Tokyo Olympiad is a shot of the sun as it hangs in the sky. It is not certain whether this is the sun of the dawn or at sunset but Ichikawa connects the natural world as not only being the symbol of the Japanese flag but also the source of life to the Olympic games. Ichikawa then juxtaposes shots of preparation for the games with the transportation of the Olympic torch, from Athens to Tokyo. In these brief moments Ichikawa establishes the form in which he is going to tell the story of this Olympic games. There is narration in some parts but then there is narration soley through editing and juxtaposition of images. Ichikawa does not want to just tell us what happened but experience the total aspects of the Olympic games. This total approach, focusing not just on athletes and results but on the varying components of the Olympic games, allows the audience to experience the soul of the games. This soul is related to what George Plimpton writes in his thoughts about the film:

"I remember Earnest Hemingway telling me once that the unnoticed things in the hands of a good writer had an effect, and a powerful one, of making readers conscious of what they had been aware of only subconsioucsly. A parallel addage suggests that a great photographer can take a picture of a familiar street and tell you something about it you never knew before. After watching the 1964 Tokyo Olympiad, one can surely say that Ichikawa is of that tradition."

The soul of the Tokyo games can also be characterized by the Japanese term Mono No Aware. Mono No Aware can be described as, "the way of things" or the passing notion of things. In some respects one can say that the defining moments of Mono No Aware are not in grandiose moments but rather the fine details of living.  In one scene the filmmaker follows one of the athletes from the African country of Chad. That year Chad only sent two athletes to the games and the athlete that is focused on is a runner in the 800 meter event. Ichikawa does not invade the athlete with questions, thoughts or sentimentality. Rather Ichikawa follows the routine of the athlete at a distance letting us take in this athlete without any expectation. We see the athlete train in the Olympic village alone, even though he is surrounded by other athletes training. We see the athlete eat diner in the Olympic village cafeteria. Once again he is alone, even though he is in a room filled with other athletes. The narrator expresses how the athlete qualified for the semi-final round and that is more than what could have been hoped for by this athlete. We then see the athlete compete in the semi-final and not qualify for the finals. Ichikawa cuts between the athlete running and the opening ceremony where the athlete enters the track. By running the race the athlete is representing more than himself but his nation on a grand stage. Even though victory is not in store there is a solemn pride in having competed. The athlete walks off the track and that is the Olympic games for him. This result is easily lost in the history of the 800 meter event but Ishikawa shows the importance of this athletes journey as one that defines what the Olympics are about. Even in such a prestigous competition as the Olympics, which is wrought with drama, there is silent drama that plays itself out in the simple moment of walking off the track or an official collecting hammers after the hammer throw. If we focus on who won or lost we miss "the way" of that competition. Ichikawa refuses to let us miss "the way of things."

In one instance Ichikawa shows us the mens 100 meter final. The race takes no more than ten seconds and it is easy to miss who actually won the race or what happened during the race. Ichikawa not only shows us the real time event but then goes back and shows the event in slow motion. From the placing of the starting blocks to the preparation of the runners, to the split second of the start and the springing into motion countless muscles, the 100 meter race never felt so long. At least we are not able to miss the details of the competition. Each moment of the race is imperative and by viewing the parts of the race in slow motion we are able to better appreciate the whole race. It is throughout Tokyo Olympiad that Ishikawa uses slow motion to show us the "way of things" in competition.

Ishikawa does not show us all the events of the 1964 Olympics but even in brief highlights we are shown the humanity of competition and the struggle to push ones self beyond their limits. The marathon races is the last competition to be run in the Olympics and is the last event focused on in Tokyo Olympiad. Ishikawa follows the competitors through the long grueling race as they travel the streets of Tokyo. The pained expressions of the runners faces and the crowds that line the streets in eager aplomb shows that the marathon is more than a race to see who can win but who can finish the distance. Ishikawa focus's on the runners as they come to water stops. The camera's focus on how the runners take a drink or refuel before going forward. Some runners come to a complete stop and one can wonder if those runners are having doubts about finishing. Other runners refuel and go trying to keep their momentum. The winner of the race, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, is shown as a driving force. His stride and look of determination does not waver. In one instance Ishikawa follows Bikila in a slow motion close up. The slow motion makes Bikila look as if each stride is easy and that even in the longest race of the Olympics there is a beauty to running such a great distance. Bikila would win the race easily but Ishikawa does not just focus on him.

Ishikawa also shows the difficulties of finishing the race. He shows one runner who breaks down and comes to a stop, eventually sitting down on the side of the road asking for water. The spectators help him but the race is over for that runner. Even those who finish are left to deal with recovering from the long distance. There are blistered feet, exhausted muscles and broken bodies. In many ways Ishikawa uses the marathon as a microcosm for the entire Olympic games. But even as the competitions come to an end and pass away, there is always the hope of an even greater competition that lies ahead.

The film closes with the closing ceremony of the games. Certainly the closing ceremony is not as grand in the film as they are in these more modern times. Ishikawa though shows that the beauty of the end of the games is centered in the unity of the athletes celebrating their triumphs. The representatives of the varying nations come together in the Olympic stadium and wave their goodbyes and we are left with the expectation that the next Olympic games could be even greater. There is much one can write about Tokyo Olympiad ( And I could certainly write more!) What Tokyo Olympiad still shows us is the fading beauty of competition and (in the words of a wise Teacher) that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happen to them all.