Quest for Fire (1981)

Quest for Fire (La guerre du feu)
Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
Written by Gerard Brach from a book by J.H. Rosny Sr./Anthony Burgess creator of special languages/Desmond Morris creator of body language and gestures
1981/Canada/France
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube (free)

[first lines] Title Card: 80,000 years ago, man’s survival in a vast uncharted land depended on the possession of fire. / For those early humans, fire was an object of great mystery, since no one had mastered its creation. Fire had to be stolen from nature, it had to be kept alive – sheltered from wind and rain, guarded from rival tribes. / Fire was a symbol of power and a means of survival. The tribe who possessed fire, possessed life.

I was mesmerized by this very strange movie.

The film is set in the time of pre-history when Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis co-existed. The population has migrated to a climate with cold winters. Fire is essential to humans for heat, cooking, and to scare away wild animals. We are introduced to a group who disastrously loses its carefully tended fire supply to marauding Neanderthals. Three of its young men are sent out in search of more. They have many harrowing adventures.

The group battles another that has captured women from yet another tribe.  One (Rae Dawn Chong) escapes and attaches her self to the men, who eventually accept her.  She has a more sophisticated language and leads them back to her little village.  In the course of more wandering, fire and romantic love are discovered.

I was a bit nervous going in but I totally loved this.  There is no dialogue that we can understand and no subtitles.  And way too many things are discovered in a very short period. I’m sure the accuracy could be picked apart in many other ways.  But the filmmakers have created a world here and, once one surrenders to it, it is totally engrossing and thought-provoking.  Rae Dawn Chong does an amazing job and so do her male counterparts.  Recommended.

Quest for Fire won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Missing theme song