Dir: Jean-Jacques Annuad
When I was a kid, 12 years old and just figuring out that a woman's breasts were pretty awesome, I discovered that HBO showed all the rated R movies late at night when my parents were conveniently asleep. The first pornographic film clip I recall ever seeing is the first 10 minutes of “Quest for Fire”, when, as the women of the tribe are down at the stream drinking hand-scooped water while down on all fours, a rather frisky member of the tribe sneaks up behind her and enjoys a heart-felt moment. It was wonderfully decadent to my young eyes, when nothing beat a smuggled copy of National Geographic for its revelation of Africa's relaxed dress-code.
It's been nearly 30 years since I watched those first few minutes of “Quest for Fire”, and when I discovered it available on Netflix recently I realized I had never seen it beyond those first first scenes. What I discovered is a rich movie filled with brilliant concepts and acting. The story is a simply one, a quest to reclaim a spark of fire for a tribe of human's too primitive, too lacking in technological thought, to produce it artificially. There is no discernible language, and thus no subtitles, which seems odd for a Hollywood film. But the director trusts his audience, and uses gibberish and grunts and pantomime and stereotypical caveman-speak to tell his story. Sometimes it seems a bit silly, but for the most-part I am able to suspend my modern-day conventions and accept the device for what it is; a way to tell the story that requires my acceptance and involvement. I have to accept language was just beginning to take shape, that instinct was king and inventive thought was fringe. And the director carries this torch through every aspect of the film. The fight scenes are full of posturing and clumsy spear-play. Wounded tribesmen aren't bandaged up. Humor, sex and survival are all rough and a painful. And none of it is sexy.
Except Rae Dawn Chong. Her chatter permeates the film, even as Everett McGill's silent contemplativeness acts as our default narration. And even past the mud and body-paint, she is a charmer. Ron Perlman and Nicholas Kadi round out the members of the quest, and never overstate their roles as simple companions. They all hunker about, picking at bugs and acting like chimps, but McGill is the visionary of the tribe. There is a spark of intelligence under his pronounced brow, a philosophical depth behind the deep-set eyes. He doesn't just notice there is a world larger than himself, but also wonders about it. His isn't the cleverness of discovery, but the appreciation of need and application; he is the visionary.
“Quest for Fire” has moments that could be campy, but they are not allowed to be. Our first reaction might be to laugh at a corny moment, but it is never allowed to stop with that moment. Each flows into a rationale that reminds us to lose our preconceptions and accept the tools being used to tell the story. Early in the film the tribe is attacked by savages, less evolved and more brutish. There is a lot of posturing and whooping and weapons raising, but very little combat. When the combat does come it is clumsy and awkward, a reminder that there would not be any martial talent yet. Spears aren't thrown because then you don't have a weapon anymore. Nobody runs up to attack, because they don't want to get hurt. Wounds are scratches and abrasions, not crudely carved spears through the heart. There was a thread to realism underscoring the movie, of supposition that works because it is pervasive and complete. It isn't campy, because it doesn't revert to something more believable. It is acceptable, because it accepts itself without reservation or excuse.
I enjoyed the movie, because it this fact. I found myself drawn into a the story, caring about the trials of the characters, and accepting their images as presented to me. I don't know if primitive man walked like a baboon everywhere and fucked like rabbits, and with as little emotion. I accepted it as presented, though, and enjoyed the tale through this filter. A tell well told, interesting and satisfying.
I think that, like the movie “Chariots of Fire”, “Quest for Fire” is a masterpiece that will withstand the test of time. I also think it is easily forgettable, because it doesn't offer enough that is obviously epic. There is no quotable dialog, or revolutionary story ideas. It is just a story told in a unique fashion, artistically true to itself. That alone makes it art worth experiencing. But it is an entertaining tale, as well, with great performances and good direction.
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