Movies - Quest for Fire

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	Movies - Quest for Fire

Quest for Fire (French La Guerre du feu after an eponymous novel) is a 1981 fantasy film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It won the Academy Award for Makeup. The movie was adapted by Gérard Brach from the novel by J.-H. Rosny. The invented language spoken by the prehistoric humans was invented by Anthony Burgess. The gestural and body language was overseen by Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape. The DVD was released on March 2, 2003 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The film stars Everett McGill (Noah), Ron Perlman (Amoukar), Nameer El-Kadi (Gaw) and Rae Dawn Chong (Ika) part of the Ulam tribe; other actors include The Great Antonio.

Tagline: A Science Fantasy Adventure.

Plot

The film takes place 80,000 years ago and focuses on a group of Paleolithic humans who travel their dangerous world in search of a flame to rekindle their lost fire. The film likely takes place in Europe during the last major Ice Age, but was shot in several locations: Kenya, Scotland, and Canada.

The anthropology in this film is muddled; 4 separate groups are represented, the Ulam, Kzamm, Wagabus and Ivaka. The Wagabus and Kzamm are the most primitive tribes, represented as Homo neanderthalensis. The Ulam and Ivaka are more or less modern Homo sapiens sapiens (though the Ulam may be classified as Cro Magnon). Fire is noted as being one of the oldest human technological innovations, keeping mankind warm and safe, and beneficial for cooking food. In Quest for Fire the fictional tribes suggest that not all people understood how to produce it. It is uncertain exactly when the first fire was maintained by humans, but this film demonstrates the struggle in doing so during harsh conditions of humans' primordial past. The story was difficult to tell without any dialog in a recognizable language, but the cave people's language (a combination of signs and speech) worked well; along with the natural visual tapestry, the language was one of the most successful attractions of the film.

In the beginning of the film the Wagabus invade the Ulam territory and a battle breaks out. Eventually the Ulam escape, leaving some casualties on both sides. The Ulams' fire tender manages to escape with the tribe's fire and finds the remnants of the tribe. When their fire is accidentally extinguished, the Ulam assemble a few members to find more. During their journey they encounter other primitive forms of human beings. One of the most primitive of the ancient human tribes are Kzamm who would (in some cases) resort to capturing Ivakas as cannibalistic victims. Despite the Kzamm's less advanced technological and social status, they have the ingenuity to produce fire. Naoh manages to steal some fire from the Kzamms, but not until he is injured in a fight with one of them. He escapes the Kzamm camp and rendezvous with Gaw and Amoukar with a new member to their group: Ika, one of the prisoners who escapes the Kzamm with Naoh.

Ika's tribe, the Ivaka, are the most intelligent humans. They make atlatls, arts (body painting), huts, ornaments, primitive pottery, and most importantly, fire. Ika spends a great deal of time teaching things Ulams never knew before such as laughter and emotional love. One day Ika recognizes that she is near her home. She tries to persuade the Ulam trio to go with her, but either lack of a common language or a sense of purpose keeps them on their way back to the Ulam. When Ika leaves the them the next morning, Noah is upset and decides to continue on without her, but finds that he can't stop thinking about her. He turns around to follow her, with the reluctant companionship of Gaw and Amoukar. Naoh leaves the others behind to investigate a village and finds himself captured by the Ivaka tribe. At first he is teased and subjected to several forms of humiliation. Eventually, the Ivaka decide to show him their ways. As Noah is shown how to produce fire he is overwhelmed, and his life changes.

Growning impatient, Gaw and Amoukar go to find Naoh and are also captured. During their own humiliations they are disturbed to realize that one of the teasers is Naoh, almost unrecognizeable as he now resembles the Ivaka! Not being so easily swayed, Gaw and Amoukar make their escape during the night with a reluctant (but now unconscious) Naoh in tow. Ika, who realizes she loves Naoh, follows the trio and helps them find their way away from the Ivaka camp.

The Ulam members with their new found member continue their journey back to the Ulam tribe, but are confronted by a bear and aggressive, self-centered members of their own tribe. Fortunately, the Ulams had stolen several spear throwers during their escape from the Ivaka, and make use of them against the bullies, demonstrating the advantages of embracing new technologies.

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Movies - Quest for Fire

Plot

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