Product: La Guerre du feu (1982)
Rating: 3.0
bizarrely violent prehistorical fiction
This film is a serious attempt at historical realism about human- and proto-human-societies way way back in history. It is supposed to be about the time that humans discovered how to control fire, when it ceased to be a magical commodity to steal and become a technology to harness.The story is that a band from a tribe is sent to bring back fire. Their tribe (presumably Neanderthals) has lost its fire to invading competitors who extinguish theirs while carrying it off, hence they lost their claim to be human and above other animals. On the way, they have a huge adventure.The trouble is, the fossil record is extremely sketchy about this period and there are so many gaps in our knowledge that to make a story a lot has to be filled in. To do so, this film indulges in graphic violence, primitive sex, and simply outlandish speculation about cannibalism, inter-species war, and use of force within tribes. While this is fine as far as it goes, after a while it really feels like too much.That being said, the acting is above average and often excellent, including early roles for Rae Dawn Chong and Ron Perlman. The script also doesn't have them speaking English, but creates a grunting language that would show what it was like for tribes that lack a common language. THere is also a lot of humor, such as the tribe learning to laugh for the first time or the women offering themselves submissively to the adventurers to get some measure of them. It is imaginative and often fun, if too violent and crude.Recommended with these caveats in mind.