The Clan of the Cave Bear

The movie version of 'Clan of the cave bear' isn't really a bad adaption - but the very fact that this is a movie, running less than two hours, forces it to be a very compact version of the book. A lot of the details are left out, which of course is unfortunate.

Overall, the acting is quite good. How are we really supposed to act so it will be like neanderthals? Can you really put all their knowledge and way of life and act it out when modern man is so much different (or are we?). Daryl Hannah is probably a good choice for Ayla at the time, and thanks to the 80's still Allowing 'rougher stuff' to be shown, or as I prefer it: more natural, the abuse described in Auel's novel is to most extent included.

To sum it up: an OK adaption, but a 2-hour movie does not make this novel justice.

If the movie lacks anything it is the beauty of the photography in films like "Quest for Fire" and "Windwalker". Otherwise I can't find any serious flaws. It is rare to find a decent movie about prehistoric peoples. "Quest for Fire" is the best movie of this kind in my opinion but "Clan of the Cave Bear" is a close second.

I am not trying to compare "Cave Bear" to the books by Jean M. Auel. To me the film takes the best part of Auel's story and makes a pretty good movie. The later Auel stories become more romance novel fodder and to some that may be more entertaining. "Clan of the Cave Bear" is not romantic. It captures the brutality of prehistory very well for a fiction film. I've seen documentaries about the Neanderthal and was surprised how accurately "Cave Bear" showed that time. The flaws in human nature are shown in all their rawness in this movie. There is prejudice, oppression and abuse in full force. What makes it bearable for me is how the Darryl Hannah character is able to deal with this and eventually over come it.

"Cave Bear" also shows some of the ritual of stone age culture with the Shaman and the hunting rites of passage. There is some beauty in that culture. But the bottom line for these people is survival and that was a very difficult thing to accomplish. They were scratching and clawing (literally) just to eat and raise children. And sadly we know that they are doomed (except for a few Neanderthals who possibly interbred with Cro-Magnons).

This kind of documentary approach in "Cave Bear" will not thrill those who want a stone age comedy-romance, "Caveman", or a special effects absurdity of prehistoric people fighting lots of dinosaurs, "One Million BC", (which is historically impossible). But if you can appreciate an intense story of a young woman's survival in the wild and her experience with a lost stone age culture, then I recommend "Clan of the Cave Bear". 9/10

The popularity of DVD has exploded the past couple of years like no new entertainment technology before. We are seeing more and more older films released on DVD for a pittance, like this one, "Clan of the Cave Bear", which I purchased for under $6US. There isn't much sound in this film, but the images, all shot in British Columbia, come through really well.

The setting in time is prehistoric, during the brief overlap of the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans. Ayla (Daryl Hannah), a very blonde Cro-Magnon, was orphaned as a small girl, wounded, and found by the dark-haired Cave Bear Clan of Neanderthals. Against the wishes of the leader, she is taken in and nursed back to health by the medicine woman. As she grows up we see that she is innately smarter than her adopted family, learns things quickly, begins to innovate. The Neanderthals are portrayed as if they had perhaps an IQ of 80, while Ayla certainly has an IQ of 120 to 140.

This causes difficulties for her, because the women are totally subserviant, and one of them showing smarts or initiative is punished. A woman who even touches a hunting weapon is sentenced to die. But when Ayla does to defend a tribesman, she is only exiled in the winter and, if she survives, allowed to come back. She does, but finally realizes her "spirit" is different, and leaves to look for her own kind. After she fights and defeats the young "alpha male", who earlier had raped her thus giving her a child.

Some critics scoff at the primative community portrayed here, but it in fact is very accurate. In the DVD commentary we learn that much of the design for this film came from watching a few crude videotapes that were actually made by the Cro-Magnons during that prehistoric period and were discovered, well-preserved, in far northern sub-freezing caves in the 1960s. Not surprisingly, they were in the Beta format.

The whole film is about acceptance of someone different and of change. This is a common theme in many many films over the years, and is closely related to the popular "Pleasantville" of 1998. What makes this one different and enjoyable is the setting in time, the depiction of community values of these prehistoric peoples. I rate it highly overall.

Good intentions and a fairly faithful adaptation of Jean M. Auel's novel help keep this forgotten 1980s adventure on an almost watchable level, despite some obvious shortcomings. One of these is director Michael Chapman's oblivious attention to detail and anthropological observations - which was the very basis for the success of Auel's book. Another is the lack of nerve and intensity in the storytelling. As the story is portrayed here, the characters' actions and lives don't feel as relevant and defining as they should and as Auel intended them to be. Her Ayla may seem like a superbeing, but she's not only a lovable character, she's also used as a vanguard for human development by Auel - something Chapman fails to communicate completely. The result is that The Clan of the Cave Bear lacks the facets and layers of the novel. Instead Chapman seems content with launching Daryl Hannah (who is right for the part, incidentally) as a rebellious feminist cavewoman. In line with 1980s action conventions, yes, but sadly flat for a story of these proportions.

I first saw 'Cave Bear' when it first came out on video back in 1986 and quite enjoyed it, though it did wander far from the novel. Having recently bought it on DVD as an adult I can honestly say the film still looks great but the film makers took a powerful, epic story and turned it into a one dimensional piece of fluff that never succeeds in enthralling us. I have always been a huge fan of Daryl Hannah, and though she really seems to be doing her best here, I believe she was miss cast. Ayla was meant to be a young teenage girl - Daryl was far too old. The fault here of course is not with Daryl but with the Director and Producers. The main saving grace of the film is the cinematography - it looks beautiful and must have been a difficult film to light considering it all had to look natural and ambient. The DVD release was aweful - it wasn't in widescreen and looked little better than video. It was released by 'Force Video' (never heard of em') and didn't even feature a scene selection function. I know that Jean M. Auel was not entirely happy with the film (I wrote to her once and was thrilled to receive a letter back from her, some of it even hand written by her!) so perhaps one day the entire series of 'Earth's Children' books could be made into a mini-series for television.