Dominic-Berlemann

This movie by Jean-Jacques Annaud is highly recommended. Shot in the early 1980s and now a classic of sorts, it delineates the fate of a small Neanderthal tribe which has lost its most important possession, a torch of fire, in a fierce battle with some ape-like hairy creatures resembling Homo erectus (which actually didn't exist at the same time as the Neanderthals, one of the movie's many paleoanthropological blunders not diminishing the flick's general cinematic value). Because they apparently only know how to use fire without being aware of how to make it, the tribe's three most capable warriors, portrayed convincingly by Everett McGill, Ron Perlman and Nameer El Kadi, set off on a trip to reignite the torch for their kinsfolk. On the journey they encounter a female Homo sapiens, played by the unforgettable Rae Dawn Chong. Some sort of culture shock takes place, as it begins to dawn on the Neanderthals that they are culturally and technologically inferior to their taller, leaner cousins. The big question is: will the Neanderthals be able to learn from their human cousins or are they doomed to die out? The movie offers a uniquely imaginative story, marvelous landscapes partly shot in the Scottish Highlands, Western Canada's Badlands and Kenya's Savannah, an astonishing proto-human language developed by Anthony Burgess and spherical music forming a perfect backdrop to the epic story. Also, there is a 25 min. special feature about film production on the DVD, which is highly informative. This DVD is definitely worth your dough.

This 1965 documentary by Mikhail Romm is an excellent example of the special position of film directors in the former Soviet Union, who didn't have to succumb to the economic hardships typically imposed on art by Western market economies. However, the film implicitly reveals the political interventions under which all art suffered under the Soviet system. On the one hand, Romm displays a strong and original will to educate mankind in a Soviet style sense of humanism, which by today's standards appears to be rather naive, if not outright ridiculous. On the other hand the documentary simply brushes aside important historical events in order to (over-)emphasize the undeniable contributions of the Red Army and of Soviet society in general to overthrowing fascism in the Great Patriotic War. There is no mention of 1939's Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact, in which Hitler and Stalin divided Polish territory amongst themselves like pieces of pie, no word about the willingness of many Soviet citizens to collaborate with the Nazis because of overwhelming Russian dominance in the USSR, nothing about the fact that Britain's RAF was the only power providing successful military resistance to the Nazi war machine in 1940/41, and the decisive invasion of Normandy is not considered either. The whole war is painted as a primarily Soviet affair. The depiction of US marines as the fascist hordes of the Cold War really puts the icing on the cake, as it puts Americas's troops in the same line with some of world history's most appalling war crimes, for the apparent propagandistic benefits. However, Romm's approach is interesting insofar as it combines the analysis of fascism with sarcastic comments uncovering at least the nature of Hitler's bestial tyranny. However, most of these comments are rather common-place, such as alluding to Goerings plump figure or Hitler's obsessions with dogs and so on. This movie is not a must, but despite its obvious propagandistic tendency it provides the viewer with some interesting insights - not only about the causes of fascism, but also about the nature of Soviet dictatorship as well.