Lo desconocido: La cueva de los huesos

In order to review this movie you need to consider how good it is in terms of filmmaking and also the validity of the scientific claims that are being made. I've been interested in evolution and paleontology my whole life and have seen countless documentaries on this subject. It's very difficult to lay out a complex story in an hour and a half so I realize that we're not going to see all of the little details required to actually prove what they're saying. I would like to have seen more evidence that the rock they discussed is actually a stone tool but it's obvious that these creatures used tools to make those very distinctive carvings. It also seems certain that they did in fact bury their dead which certainly means that they weren't as primitive as they might have appeared with their small brains. So it was informative as well as entertaining for those of us who are interested in science and definitely worth watching.

Not really worth a 600 word review unfortunately. But fine. This could have might have been an interesting or even fascinating anthropology discovery story as implied and stated by the producers in the trailer and description. But in reality there is very little science here. About 20 minutes in total - and that's generous - of the doc has science in it - about ostensibly a possible new genus Homo species these paleoanthropologists call Homo Naledi. The problem is it's just a small team from nowhere USA who haven't as of yet gained any national or international scientific corroboration of their find. They imagine a ton of wild theories about their discovery, all interesting but unfounded. So instead they spend a good hour or more filming things like "can this heavy-set man fit through a small cave opening?" Just not science.

Very interesting movie, but take the opinions of the scientists shown in the movie with a grain of salt, since they are everything but objective. Burying a dead body with a tool is far from being evidence of belief in the afterlife, or any belief at all. It's just a sign of respecting the personal property of the deceased and shows, that Homo Naledi was capable of feeling emotionally attached to things, not only showing emotions for other members of their species. Scientists projecting their personal beliefs and views instead of interpreting the facts, sadly that more common than it should be.

I enjoyed the documentary and particularly appreciated the cartoon scenes that help the viewer understand the cave system and what this species might have been like. There is one aspect that I just find implausible about the theory of how the bones got to their resting spot. These ape/human creatures somehow ventured deep into a cave system with very tight and steep passageways with no light. It would have been pitch black for hundreds of yards AF advanced cave exploration while carrying their dead. They show an example of how you could bring fire into the cave to light the way. Sure that works for an open area, but the 36 ft chute that is super tight and straight down isn't something you could traverse while carrying lit torches. Plus you'd have to go hours in and hours out which would have required lots of wood. They would have been regularly stuck in the cave with no way to see a thing and died in there. Show me one crew going all the way to the end and back using fire as light and I'm on board otherwise this just isn't believable.

I did enjoy this because I was interested in the subject. I wanted to see the bones, hear what the actual physical discoveries were, etc.

What I got instead was an attempt to tell a story that seemed more for entertainment than actual scientific hypothesis.

There were also some truly concerning moments like when the supposed head of archeology for the project suddenly asks (in the middle of doing measurements) "are we measuring in centimeters or millimeters?" Shouldn't that be well established at that point?

The animations were completely unnecessary and much too speculative. Generally there was way too much romanticizing of these ancient creatures. I don't like the tendency to project a spiritual or religious meaning onto everything they did.

It almost feels condescending. Like they thought the viewers would be bored with pure science so they had to embellish it like a Disney movie to get people interested.