When his clan, including his wife and baby girl Néa, are massacred, Ao, a desperate Neandertal man, decides to leave the North country where he has been living for the South where he was ... See full summary »
French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they ... See full summary »
Director:
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Stars:
Jean Carmet,
Jacques Dufilho,
Catherine Rouvel
Anthony Burgess created the primitive language for the early humans in this prehistoric adventure about a trio of warriors who travel the savanna, encountering sabre-toothed tigers, mammoths and cannibalistic tribes in search of a flame that would replace the fire their tribe has lost.Written by
Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>
La guerre du feu, the novel by J.-H. Rosny Aîné, is credited in the edition by Presses de la Cité, instead of the original literary source. That editor promoted a new edition in 1982, in the wake of the film's success. See more »
Goofs
In the first shot of the woolly mammoth opening its mouth, stubs of elephant tusks can be seen. See more »
Quotes
[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.
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Alternate Versions
All UK versions are cut by 8 secs and are missing a shot of a wolf on fire. See more »
Ignore the idiotic negative comments of the naysayers. This is a great film. It boldly creates a world unlike any we've seen before, with dedicated actors going well beyond the call of duty in portraying a life and death struggle for survival under the most harrowing conditions imaginable.
Featuring Claude Agostini's splendid wide-screen cinematography of remote, rainswept landscapes and a rich score by Phillipe Sarde, this movie will take you on a compelling journey that, if nothing else, will clarify the routine creature comforts of our civilized world in a manner more direct than anything you might have previously experienced in a theater.
Jean-Jacques Annaud and collaborators tell their tale with dramatic simplicity and virtually no dialogue, but the points made are powerful. Humanity survives, and will prevail despite our weaknesses and faults. Overall, a remarkable, life-affirming work.
112 of 122 people found this review helpful.
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Ignore the idiotic negative comments of the naysayers. This is a great film. It boldly creates a world unlike any we've seen before, with dedicated actors going well beyond the call of duty in portraying a life and death struggle for survival under the most harrowing conditions imaginable.
Featuring Claude Agostini's splendid wide-screen cinematography of remote, rainswept landscapes and a rich score by Phillipe Sarde, this movie will take you on a compelling journey that, if nothing else, will clarify the routine creature comforts of our civilized world in a manner more direct than anything you might have previously experienced in a theater.
Jean-Jacques Annaud and collaborators tell their tale with dramatic simplicity and virtually no dialogue, but the points made are powerful. Humanity survives, and will prevail despite our weaknesses and faults. Overall, a remarkable, life-affirming work.