Marcus () wrote:
Quest for Fire (1981). My old roommate’s fiance told me this was a great movie with a small, devout following. I couldn’t make it all the way through. Maybe it’s a gap in my cinematic taste; maybe you can verify that it’s not so great after all…

Quest for Fire- Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud 1981

Billed as a “2001″ for the next generation, “Quest for Fire” is quite a piece of work. I would say that I enjoyed the film, but trying to recommend it to others would be a pretty hard sell. For one thing, the only language spoken throughout the entire movie is–get this–completely made up. Actually, there are several made up languages in the movie, and don’t expect putting the subtitles on to help any (all they’ll say is stuff like “prehistoric talking” or “speaking prehistoric language”). So, the movie must have a pretty intense and fast-paced plot, right?

The Plot: It’s all in the title. After a skirmish with a rival tribe of cavemen that results in an extinguishing of the main group of cavemen’s fire (referred to by them as “atra”), a chosen group of 3 goes on, you guessed it, a quest for fire! On the quest, they run into several other clans of cave people, get attacked by some wildlife, and meet a naked chick that follows them around for most of the film. Eventually, they meet up with the naked girl’s tribe where they learn to laugh and, more importantly, learn that fire can be made instead of just stolen. Then they come home and bring the girl with them. That’s it.

What makes it watch-able: Well, there are a few things that are immediately good about this movie. It’s Ron Perlman’s silver screen debut, which is good; and the naked lady is played by Rae Dawn Chong, who’s been in like a billion things (though, if you’re like me, you’ll remember her best in “Tales from the Darkside: The Movie). Additionally, the makers of this movie had Anthony Burgess make up the fake languages, which, in my opinion, is a touch of class.

As an idea, “Quest for Fire” is a unique and interesting piece of cinema. The acting is actually pretty good all around, and the story, though simple, is fairly fun to watch unfold. A lot of the makeup effects are a bit cheeseball, but that’s never bothered me (I’d go so far to say that it’s a selling point). The “love scenes” are wicked weird and are very reminiscent of a trip to the monkey house.

Amoukar Goes To The Talent Agency



All things considered, there are quite a few things worth seeing in this movie. If you’re strong enough to watch 100 minutes of gibberish and gobbledegook (which, of course, I am), I say go for it. If you’re not up for the challenge, there’s not a person on the planet who could fault you for it.

Times I had to avert my eyes: 0
Breaks needed to complete viewing: only 1 (I couldn’t believe it either)
Overall rating from 1 to 10: 6

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