★★★★ Watched 17 Aug, 2024
This was an interesting experience even though I’ve seen it before it was so long ago it felt like I watched it with fresh eyes. Very unassuming with no understandable dialogue and characters that slowly grow on you. That being said the viewer can still decipher the meaning from their gestures and circumstances context.
The audience is given very little context at the start of the movie so it pays off knowing some historical findings from the prehistoric time. The tribe we are following appears to be Neanderthal and they haven’t yet mastered the creation of fire, which supposedly came from an encounter with Homo sapiens. At the time of filming, there was (not widely accepted) theory about African-derived Homo sapiens mating with European native Neanderthal. We see that here represented in two main characters, especially in one scene of coupling where the female turns around to face her mate in contrast to a more animal-like position from the back. Decades later it was confirmed that the modern human population carries a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA. Furthermore, the latest theory is that Neanderthals did not die out because they got extinct, but instead got absorbed by modern humans.
Being filmed on location in the 80s the limitations of makeup and visual effects are prominent. Still, those do not distract from the storytelling against a backdrop of prehistorically-looking vistas of Canada, Scotland, and Kenya. Standout actors from the main cast, all very early in their careers, are Everett McGill (mostly known for Twin Peaks), Ron Perlman (in his first film role), and Rae Dawn Chong (who I mostly remember from Commando (1985)). They managed to convey various situations and emotions with their body language and looks that can be understood by anyone no matter their cultural background.
This is still a fascinating fictional story based on now outdated archaeological findings since modern research showed that Neanderthals did master the fire a long time before Homo sapiens. They were different, better in some ways (they adapted to cold much better, a trait that humans inherited and became essential when pushing further north), but slower to adapt since their evolutionary path is considerably longer than ours.
Source: Letterboxd
Info: IMDb
Life of Uri 
Verbal communication dominates modern society. I love that the actors communicate *without words* in this movie. This is a good exercise for all of us – to pay close attention to gestures and circumstance in order to understand the story. Instead of verbal language…. Side note – LOL at the doc when the host says, “Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens not only lived together, but also had sexual intercourse, *And Often*🤣😁
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Yeah she has a sense of humor while stating facts. 😁
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I had to double-check. I’m still subscribed, I only took away the notifications, because I prefer to go over my subscriptions in the WP Reader.
I do admit I did not read many posts and those that I did, did not inspire a comment. I comment when something strikes a chord with me.
Thanks for checking my blog. 🙂
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I value your comments. Keep commenting.
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I can’t help but think about how much of a relief it must have been to have zero lines to learn for this movie.
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Yeah but I didn’t mention there is dialogue just in unintelligible language. Which was, I found out later, much more elaborate than it appeared. https://www.anthonyburgess.org/quest-for-fire/quest-for-language/
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Wow, that’s definitely more challenging that just expressions and gestures.
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Reminds me of 80’s / 90’s Alt-Rock band, Cocteau Twins’ lyrics – unintelligible (or barely) but elaborate.
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Maybe they based it on this language! 😀
I’m not sure if this is in exactly the same category as Klingon (Star Trek), High Valerian (Game of Thrones), and Naʼvi (Avatar) as those are all fictional languages, but they are all based on languages of the real world, so let’s say they have in common that they were created for a movie. 😉
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