La guerre du feu
Tags: violence, historical, realism

Plot synopsis:
Eighty thousand years ago, a brutal Wagabou attack on a sleepy Ulam cave dwelling causes much death and injury. Naoh distinguishes himself in the attack, killing a couple of the gorilla-like Wagabou. Nevertheless, the attack, followed by wolf depredations, leads to the extinguishing of the Ulams' fire. Even the flame kept in a small bone and hide receptacle and guarded by a special fire-keeper, who flounders while slogging through a lake, is lost. The ragged survivors, in miserable conditions, send forth Naoh, Amoukar, and Gaw to find "atra"--fire. A rival faction of the clan seeks to claim the receptacle and the quest for themselves, but an elder chief-figure restores it to Naoh. Crossing a savannah landscape, the three are treed by a pair of sabre-tooth cats. Trapped for some time, the men eat all the leaves of the perilously small tree before the cats leave. Continuing on, they hunger for meat, and Amoukar and Gaw quarrel. They see smoke in a distant forest, but arrive too late to capture the fire. Pawing through the ashes of the campfire, they find bones to gnaw, but stop in disgust as they uncover a humanoid skull. Stalking the cannibalistic Kzamma by the light of their campfire, they see two captive women (one is Ika, who we are soon to meet) hanging captive from a tree. While Amoukar and Gaw run a diversion, Naoh tries to steal fire, but ends up in a fight. He seriously injures two Kzamma, but not before being bitten in the groin. In the end, Naoh absconds with two fire sticks and rejoins his mates. They are soon approached by Ika. The men try to drive her off, but she follows, and eventually wins over Naoh by applying a vegetable poultice to his injured gonads while Amoukar and Gaw are off gathering gourds. The Kzamma have pursued, however, and are poised to attack in superior numbers when miraculously a herd of Wooly Mammoth enter the scene. Naoh wins the day when he approaches the head Mammoth and, supplicant, offers a handful of grass. The animal accepts the offering, and the herd drives off the Kzamma. That evening around the fire, the sexual tension is think. Amoukar makes a try for Ika, but she appeals to Naoh, who warns off Amoukar and--a fast healer--promptly mounts her himself, despite her screams and struggles, though the brief interlude seems to conclude in mutual satisfaction. The following day, Ika attempts to divert the men toward another route, but they ignore her. Later, Naoh seems on the verge of a discovering the stone age breakthrough of flint-knapping when a stone dislodged by Gaw hits Amoukar in the head; Ika's laughter is foreign and somewhat alarming to the men, who, we realize have not yet learned the art and luxury of laughter. The following morning, Ika runs off, and, later that day and to the disgust of his fellows, Naoh leads them in pursuit. They let him go on alone and, nearing Ikas village of mud and reed huts, Naoh bogs down in quicksand and is taken prisoner by her people, the Ivaka. Ika's more advanced people feed Naoh and watch laughing as he has sex with four of the plumper village girls. The following day, Naoh is moved to tears as he watches a demonstration of the wooden drill the villagers use to make fire. Meanwhile, Amoukar and Gaw, having gone in search of Naoh, are found in the quicksand. That night, Amoukar and Gaw escape with an armload of atlatls (another new technology) and with Naoh, whom they must club unconscious in order to bring along. Ika follows. Later, with loving looks, Naoh and Ika decorate one another with mud. Up a tree, Amoukar drops a rock onto Gaw's head, and all have a good laugh. Still later, Naoh mounts Ika but she soon turns onto her back and teaches him another position, to his delight. As this continues, Amoukar makes overtures to Gaw, but Gaw makes clear his refusal. Soon after, the four encounter their old Ulam rivals who challenged them at the outset of their quest. While Naoh and Amoukar reconnoiter, Gaw and Ika hang back at a cave; suddenly, a massive brown bear comes out of the darkness of the cave and mauls Gaw. As the others carry Gaw toward home and safety, the rival clansmen attack, demanding the fire the travelers carry with them. With their new stone-tipped spears and atlatls, they make short work of the Ulam ingrates, and even Ika getting in on the atlatl action. Returning to the main Ulam group, the people are overjoyed to see the travelers returning with fire. During the celebration, which takes place in the shallows of a lake, the original fire-keeper again falls with the receptacle into the water, extinguishing the flame. Naoh makes an oratory to a skeptical Ulam audience before sitting down with the drill to make fire. He soon becomes frustrated and Ika takes over, starting the fire and winning over the Ulam people in the process. That evening, as Amoukar regales his audience with tales of their epic quest and the injured Gaw enjoys the ministrations of a clanwoman around the roaring campfire, Naoh and Ikah sit side by side in the moonlight admiring her swelling tummy.

Review: Their journey brings them not only into contact with other tribes of prehistoric humans at different stages of evolution but also advances their own humanity, as well as teaching them to be "prometheuses" in their own right.An absolutely fascinating film.
At points, there scenes that capture a sense of humor that is so basic to our modern way of thinking, but for these characters they are just discovering such things like the concept of laugher.
Just as knowledge is for modern human beings.This film succeeds in it's proportions,direction, settings, music, great special effects,and acting.
In other words, the film in my mind fell into the 'One Million Year BC' category and I ignored it.Later, I learned who Annaud was and admired 'The Name of the Rose' for its direction, its translation of a difficult book and its effort at realism.
First, it tells you a very complex story without a single line of dialog successfully.Second, the story is universal: Every civilization on earth can pick up this film and understand it, because it goes to the most basic, primitive issues of a species (mainly, survival).
One of the elements of this film I liked the most was the realistic depiction of the diversity of anthropoid types that existed in those times.
I also liked the language used by the main tribe, there was a suggestion that the language was evolving right before us as the travelers, having been sent on a quest for fire, returned with quite a bit more to talk about.This is one of my favorite movies, possibly the most favorite..
Yes, the mammoths looked a bit like Mr. Snuffolopogus and some of the makeup jobs could've been done better but it's still a great movie.The story line was captivating and the characters were well-developed.
In prehistoric times, having fire meant survival from the cold and protection from predators.In this film, facial gestures, hand movements, general body language and mannerisms of the characters are all consistent with conclusions about early man, as a result of thorough anthropological research.
All of these technical cinematic elements combine to create a reasonably accurate visual and audio impression of mankind as it existed some 80,000 years ago.As you would expect, the film is shot entirely in rugged, remote locations, resulting in landscapes that are stunningly beautiful.
And that clearly is the case here, with a plot that drones on with a monotony and repetition that can be tedious, and at times difficult for some viewers.Although the story's entertainment value may be marginal, "Quest For Fire", with its low tech cinematic style, is interesting not only for its technical elements but also for its over arching theme of modern human's continuity with prehistoric man, based on the element of fire..
The filmmakers portray the development of human attributes such as humor and laughing, connection between males and females beyond the pure sexual, language development, story telling, cross-pollination of ideas between tribes of different levels of advancement, and at the end, the awakening of a sense of the transcendent.
(The characters from different tribes don't know the other languages and they often act out what they need.) This is a movie about the primal fight to survive and how even though they are forced to travel to find a new fire, their experiences expand their horizons in ways they could never have anticipated.
If their own fire hadn't gone out they would never have met the cannibals or the clay people, who ultimately hold the key to their survival.At its core, this is a movie about how although we may look different and have different customs we are all human and what we can learn from each other is irreplaceable..
The acting is superb (imaging telling a story of this depth through acting alone without the aid of spoken word), the makeup is believable, and the score all work together to tell this entertaining and informative story.In many instances, it's not just the viewers who are left with having to figure out what is happening in a particular scene, the characters in the movie are often met with peoples and situations which are just as alien to them as they are to us.Sure there are no chiseled dimpled leading actors or stunning buxom leading actresses, but even that, I found so refreshing.
It's actually a movie about the transition from ape to man condensed into a relatively short time for one tribe.
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.
Their contact promotes an evolution of their own tribe.This is the third time that I watch this fascinating and unique "La Guerre du Feu", which is an unforgettable masterpiece of the great director Jean-Jacques Annaud, now on DVD.
The story is awesome with amazing performances without words but with a wonderful choreography, and in my opinion Rae Dawn Chong and Ron Perlman deserved nominations to the Oscar in this earlier works.
I watched this movie for the first time and was blown away by how good it was, visually beautiful and very realistic.
The relationship in the tribes and their interaction between other tribes was very insightfull and realistic.How they did those Sabre tooth Tigers in 1983 without computer graphics is beyond me.The importance of fire at that time was life and death I would imagine so that makes this story all the more believable.
This one is fiction rather than fact, and it incorporates some decent scientific accuracy, as well as some VERY primitive, but clever humor, and some cute creature effects for the amazing beasts which shared Ice Age Europe with us a hundred thousand years ago.The great thing about movies like Quest for Fire is the way they can be universally appreciated.
I doubt that the majority of people who watch quest for fire will care about science and anthropology, but I think the film is more interesting if you do care.
The story is interesting and well-acted, especially considering that the cast was working with the significant limitation of not speaking a word of English (or any other known human language) in the whole movie.
As might be expected, given the context, the story is violent (and, at times, even brutal.) Somewhat surprisingly, there is also a more gentle touch included, especially contributed by the character played by Rae Dawn Chong - belonging to a tribe more advanced than the primary tribe of the movie, who introduces the lead tribe to more advanced human traits such as laughter and affection, if not love.The presence of the various tribes was one of the weaknesses here as well, though.
I thought they looked exactly like what they were - elephants with makeup on.Still, this is a good movie, if a bit fanciful and even with the possibility of inaccuracies.
I am not so sure that very prehistoric people had much of a plot, but they were very well damn human!I can only recommend this movie because it is the most realistic that I have ever seen about the subject.
The movie is adventure, drama, a love story, and it ends with the protagonist doing what probably every human has done.
A large part of what makes the story so realistic is the simple fact at the amount of effort to make the place and people come alive, you look at the list of Linguists who created the Language, Desmond Morris who created the physical movements and body language for the cast, the primary cast itself who had to endure cold and wet in next to nothing (or in Rae Dawn Chongs case...
This film is timeless and has no language barriers, it is set in the past evolution of human history and makes you wonder if you could survive if placed in the same circumstances.
I still am amazed at the fact that you can make a very, very interesting and involving movie without the use of any spoken word!Indeed, the story is not very complex, but it has its twists and turns, a couple of comic moments, moments of pure terror, some manticism...
(apart maybe from something like "Atra" which supposedly stands for "fire") I have seen this movie several times and it never got me bored.I personally think that J.J. Annaud did a terrific job ingeniously directing actors that were not supposed to utter a single meaningful word (he later semi-repeated his efforts in The Bear).
In terms of what the movie is about and the time period of human existence the film deals with no other production comes to close to depicting and dealing with the topic of the surge of mankind in such a true, honest, subtle, but yet ambitious manner.
As the Quest for Fire was made in the early eighties and a lot of insight and knowledge about prehistoric times has been gained since then this movie needs to desperately be remade for today's audience..
Ron Perlman, Rea Dawn Chong and Everett McGill are all excellent in their roles, playing these early humans as people, not apes.
I rated the movie an "8", with the rating having inched up over the years since I originally saw the film in the theaters, at which time I only gave it a 6 on a 0-10 scale.
After 20 years of movie going, I now realize that 95% of all films are stupid in places..
Jean Jacques Annaud's marvelous epic tale "Quest for Fire" deals of a tribe of Neanderthals who lose their precious fire, essential for their survival in this cold and hostile prehistoric world, after a vicious attack by more primitive ape-like humans (probably Homo Heidelbergensis).
In their journey they encounter cannibal Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens, mammoths and saber tooth tigers, they travel into freezing and windy steppes, up mountains and through swamps, in a beautifully realistic Paleolithic Europe carved by the ice age, like no movie has yet managed to grasp so beautifully.
Actually, there is dialog, only it is in a primitive language (invented for the movie) which we do not understand, and there are no subtitles so its to the viewer to interpret what's going on (don't worry, its not hard).As a student in archeology specialized in prehistory and mainly in the Neanderthal cultures, I must say that this film corresponds quite well to what I imagine Europe was like 80,000 years ago.
"Quest for Fire" is realistic, not because every little historical fact has been detailed, but because it makes a serious effort at appearing historically accurate, without sacrificing or compromising dramatic story elements.Most movies that aim for realism fall flat in terms of drama.
As we follow one humanoid group and their war for fire we watch how four groups of humanoids in various stages of evolution utilize and master the most precious element in this setting - fire.What makes the film really good is that you feel immersed in the world that has been presented.
A great movie highly recommended for those interested in human history and the big picture..
I wanted to still like this film, but I just don't think it stands the test of time.
Yeah, this movie shows its age when you look at the makeup, and there have been changes in what we know about primitive cultures, but this is still a fascinating look into what life was like in our deep-dark past.That the movie can convey a story without using one word of a known spoken language is remarkable and tells a lot about the actors and directing.
This primeval epic has quite a solid reputation as the best caveman movie ever made – even sparking a brief run of prehistoric films in its day, including THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR (1986) which I have been meaning to revisit for the longest time now – yet there was still the odd dissenting opinion (such as the late Leslie Halliwell's) with which, I have to say, I find myself agreeing.
As the film opens, the Wagabu, a savage tribe of ape-like Neanderthals, attacks a tribe of Homo sapiens, the Ulam, as they lounge in their cave.
The tribal elder sends three men, Naoh (Everett McGill), Amoukar (Ron Perlman), and Gaw (Nicholas Kadi), to find a new source of fire, since they cannot create it themselves.Along the way, Naoh, Amoukar, and Gaw rescue Ika (Rae Dawn Chong) from a tribe of red-haired cannibals, the Kzamm.
The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) is the only other movie to come close to trying to accurately portray prehistoric humanity, and its acting, costumes, and settings are almost laughable in comparison.
I read the reviews about this Movie - "Quest for Fire" (1981) - and a set of similar films on the same Prehistoric theme.
All those movies deal with life and adventures of Cavemen in real surroundings, using (hypothetical) artificially devised language and there is no thread of modern civilization involved, which is another lead plot where time is disposed and Lost Worlds discovered with strange Nature and extinct Animals.
Even my wife, who doesn't particularly fancy films such as this, found it a good watch.Whether this film is historically accurate or not, it opened my mind to the struggles and intelligence of early man.I would highly recommend this to movie buffs that like historical films, and something a little different to your mainstream drama/action..
Set 80.000 years ago, this is all about a tribe of early homo sapiens, and the harshness of life back then(with predators, climate, etc.), specifically focusing on them losing fire(this was before we knew how to start it by ourselves), and with all its life-preserving qualities(cooking food, surviving rough winters), three men are sent out to find more, any way they can.
Quest for Fire straddles a line that is somewhere in the range of nature documentary and sillier caveman films of the olden days of B movies.
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).
set 80,000 years ago when fire was of the utmost importance and languages were in their infancy, this film follows three tribesmen on their quest for fire.
the spoken language that the characters employ is completely made up and primitive, and the film speaks to fairly universal themes of love, life, survival, our origins, success and defeat.
I found myself falling out of the story and thinking about what a great job they did making these actors look and sound like cave people, instead of being wrapped up in their situation.
The lack of dialogue, spare acting and breathtaking scenery really gives one a taste of what it may have been like for our early ancestors.An interesting aspect of the movie is the migratory, and very probable, mating between various peoples that crossed paths.
If you can get past the fact thata) different types of early hominids all exist at the same time, and that b) a pack of hobbling neanderthals/homo sapiens(?) manage to wander across nearly all types of terrain in an astonishing short time frame (and still find back to their tribe which is _still_ for some absurd reason standing in the same small patch of land in the swamp whence they had left...),then I guess it's a passable, even engaging, movie.The wildly varying outdoor shots are beautiful but of course totally out-of-place.When they chose to film in multiple (and likely very expensive) outdoor locations probably meant that they could only afford to show exactly two saber-toothed tigers and a pack of mammoths...Only the two most recognized animals that everyone will expect to see in a "Stone Age" film?
This is a fun movie, and shows (if nothing else) that silent films can still be powerful today, even if they are done in a slightly different way..
Rae Dawn Chong also gives a believable performance as a young Cro Magnon girl the trio encounter on their quest.The film is, of course, flawed in some ways, but until someone has the motivation to make a REAL prehistoric epic that doesn't involve bad acting and CGI smilodons, CfF is as good as it gets..
Despite there being no recognisable language spoken in the film, the story is very easy to follow and basically consists of the quest undertaken by three cavemen to capture and bring back fire for their tribe, who will be wiped out without it.
QUEST FOR FIRE is definitely the most realistic caveman film of all time and also perhaps the best.
This is certainly not true of 'Quest for Fire' but the comment from your user, 'Evolvest' from Texas, ("It really looks like we are seeing through a window of time 80,000 years ago, in all its beauty and ugliness") seems to say almost all that is necessary in just 20 words.
I'm pretty sure that the Ulam tribe were suppose to be Neanderthals and the woman they encounter on their journey is a modern human female (homo sapient).Overall this film is a classic, only a few scenes depict nudity and sexuality which doesn't really matter since it's human nature anyways.
I would have liked the film better if we saw more of her tribe, who provided the most potential for interesting characters.
This movie begins approximately 80,000 years ago with a primitive tribe known as the "Ulam" huddled in a cave around a large fire.
Quest for Fire is a somewhat transfixing film about prehistoric times, but without dialogue and the vulgar nature, it isn't compelling.While the premise of the search for fire and its understanding of creation is a good one, it lacks much else.