Customer Reviews

Quest for Fire (Widescreen)

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was under the impression that this was a fairly recent film, created sometime between 1997 and 2003, and while watching it I thought it was more like a 1987 film due to the flawed science. Our knowledge of early man has progressed since 1981, and for the best one can do today I recommend the documentary style film "Caveman".

The main tribe the story come accross looking like Neanderthals but acting more like much earlier hominids, very ape-like, I laughed several times at this. Yet they are suposed to be homo sapiens! The grey painted tribe they meet up with and the girl who is the love interest come accross as homo sapiens, which makes the "love interest" part a bit confusing, especially as the girl is so small and slight she seems to be a child of 12 or 13, and the Neanderthals are big and hulky. I really believe Neanderthal was more intelligent than portrayed here. The most believeable part of the film is the language and body language. This I found realistic.

At the beginning of the film they are suposedly attacked by a group of "Neanderthals" but these sasquatches look more like an earlier yet type of monkey man, earlier than Homo Habilis.

All in all I prefer Clan of the Cave Bear.

Quest for Fire is a film that will not only alter one's perception of modern human behavior but also show the dawn of what we call human civilization. This movie portrays man distilled to his original raw instincts, many of which in today's ultra modern society would be denounced as barbaric and foreign. It is hard to fathom that 8,000 years ago our predecessors had pretty much the same cognitive ability as modern humans do. It is simply the continual growth of technology and civilization that separates us from the characters in Quest for Fire. After knowing this morsel of knowledge, it was apparent that this movie not only defines life in the ancient world but also paints vividly shocking portrait of who we really are. Simply put, watching this film is quite humbling. The film climaxes when the main character discovers that man can create fire. This moment is quite inspirational and thought provoking simply because it is more important than man discovering the atom or the structure of DNA. That is, man is now capable of changing his environment instead of being controlled by it. In essence, the progress of humanity is a long and detailed history. In order to understand who we really are we must learn from where we came. Quest for Fire delivers a wonderful image of where we once were and who we are now.

"Quest for Fire" (1981 - 100 minutes), under Jean-Jacques Annaud direction and written by Gérard Brach, was based on the book of J. H. Rosny. The movie develops a travel in time showing one of the biggest conquest of human kind: the domain of fire.
It's a 80 thousand years ago beautiful drama.
The Ulan tribe lives nearby a natural source of fire. When the fire went out, three members of the tribe have to search for a new flame.
After several days of walking and having to face many dangerous situations like wild animals, down temperatures and even cannibal tribes, they found the Ivakas, a more evolved human group that had already discovered how to "make" fire.
With locations in Kenya, Scotland, Island and Canada, the movie was based on scientific knowledge, showing convincing habitats and characters. The preparation work of the actors body language was done by the Anthropologist Desmond Morris and Anthony Burgess took care of the "talking" of these human ancestors.
Almost an Anthropology documentary, this excellent movie shows at the end a scene that suggests the "discovery of love" between male and female.
Absolutely unforgettable.

Visit: www.enigmasonline.com/enigmidia

It is very clear that this film is not to depict what we actually know about primative man... and it was the directors intention to counter "science fiction of the future" with this masterpiece of "science fiction of the past".

The acting, mannerisms, cinematography, music, and scope of this production is lush and yet frightening. It is a work of cinematic art... just incredible to watch and experience.

I bought this DVD remembering how much I enjoyed the VHS many years ago and I was astounded at the beauty and clarity of this DVD transfer. The magnificent Phillipe Sarde score performed by the London Symphony alone make this a wonderful addition to any videophile's library.

I think this is the PERFECT movie to play just before watching "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY".... a perfect double feature.

One of the greatest films ever made. A breathtaking stunning epic. The DVD experience makes the film even better. Priceless commentaries from Ron Perlman, Rae Dawn, the producer, and the director. There are also 15 galleries with director's commentary!
The DVD also includes the original featurette narrated by Orson Welles. Great widescreen anamorphic digital transfer from the film print. The ratio is 2.35:1 so if you have a widescreen TV or monitor you can really enjoy the full effect without the large letterbox bars.

I LOVE this movie! Touching, gripping, scary, suspensful, moving and hilariously funny, no matter how many times I watch it (and I watch it a lot!) I am always amazed how emotionally involved I become with a group of characters who (it must be stated) have VERY little in common with ME (or anyone ELSE who has lived on earth in the past twenty thousand or so years!)

The characters, none of who have names or can speak, are marvellously three dimensional and avoid being 'Flintstone-esque' at all times. Top marks go to Ron Perlman as the slightly LESS intellectually gifted of the fire-seekers (Jean-Jacques Arnaud used him again to great effect as the deformed monk, 'Salvatori', in the wonderful 'Name of the Rose'.)

It doesn't really matter how anthropologically accurate QUEST FOR FIRE is - that's not the point. It's a movie to be watched and enjoyed and 'lost' in, and if nothing else, it makes you REAL glad that you don't live in Neolithic times; life on the tundra ain't easy!

I found that the movie was great and the time schedule was faster than expected.The condition was good and I had no problems with the DVD

Different primitive tribes interact 80,000 years ago trying to keep their fire alive so they don't freeze and starve.

Visually stunning, and ultimately somewhat moving. But somehow, although it's very well done, it's hard to
forget you're watching a movie. I found myself falling out of the story and thinking about what a great technical
job they did making these actors look and sound like cave people, rather
than being caught up in their situation. Also, the score can also be over the
top at times.

Still, ambitious, original and interesting (if scientifically dubious at moments).

"Quest for Fire" is set 80,000 years ago, at the dawn of man. A tribe's fire is extinguished, so they send three of their bravest warriors to find another source of fire and bring it back. Along the way they have many adventures with cannibal tribes, lions, mammoths, bears, and must brave the elements. Along the way they find a female, which it takes little time to get attached to her. There is no dialog or even subtitles. Only grunts that almost sound like words ("OME! or "NO"). most of plot points depends on broad body language, much like mimes. The violence is not graceful; it is savage and brutal, with clubs, stones, rapes and animal maulings. This is possably what life was like in the stone age before man figured out how to make fire. This is not for children, but it is interesting for adults.

I would give this movie three and a half stars maybe four stars because it is excellent, although the historicity in it is pretty fragile now it was up to date twenty years ago. I give the DVD five because this is truly a DVD par excellance. The commentaries alone are worth buying this DVD.

The movie itself is not at all politically correct, which I appreciate, too often we wish to impose modern morals and social behaviour on the ancient world, as one sees in Clan of the Cave Bear. Not here, this film tackles clanwars, cannibalism, rape, sexuality, and even alcoholism. The one thing that did surprise me was that apparently the main characters, the Ulum tribe, were not supposed to be neanderthals, even though (based on modern understanding of neanderthals) their social behaviour was very much like the neanderthals' and was totally unlike archaic homo sapiens. However, this movie functions very well in familliarizing modern man with the totally alien world of our ancient ancestors.

Now for the DVD special features. The special features are what really set this DVD apart. Through the director commentary, and also a commentary with the exec. producer and a couple actors one really gets a sense of what a harrowing project this film was to make for all involved. From shooting in the remotest wilderness, to training animals, to working under the harshest conditions imageinable from neckdeep in frozen water in Canada to barefoot on 140 degree rocks in the middle of Africa, this movie must have been as hard to act through as life must have been for our ancient ancestors. Ron Perlman, in part of his commentary mentions that he still feels the frostbite he got while shooting this movie every time it gets cold. The special features really are brilliant and they will give you a much deeper appreciation of the movie you are watching.