Cheap Quest for Fire (DVD) (Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nicholas Kadi, Rae Dawn Chong) (Jean-Jacques Annaud) Price

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Customer Reviews of Quest for Fire

Will make you appreciate matches.
If you've ever tried to light a wet match, or been entirely without the means for starting a blaze, then you'll appreciate the extremely fascinating 1982 film, QUEST FOR FIRE. Set 80,000 years ago in time, we're introduced to a tribe of primitive, human cave dwellers, which relies on fire to survive in its Ice Age, forest environment. Unfortunately, the tribe doesn't know how to actually create fire, but must (presumably) steal it from other tribes, or wait for the fortuitous lightning strike, literally. The tribe's fire is maintained and protected between encampments in the form of a live coal carried in moss inside a hollowed-out animal skull. Talk about pressure on the Keeper of the Flame! Anyway, while fleeing an attack by a vicious group of even more primitive ape-men, the tribe stumbles into a swamp, where the hot coal is accidentally doused. Oh, oh ... now what? The solution is to send three members of the group, led by the Everett McGill character, out into the larger world in a QUEST FOR FIRE, to be brought back before the rest perish of exposure.

There's no dialog, as we know it, between the human characters. Specifically for the film, a language consisting mainly of monosyllables and body gestures was devised, the latter by Desmond Morris, the renowned zoologist and human behaviorist, who wrote the 1967 book, THE NAKED APE. It's brilliantly done, and the audience has no trouble understanding the communicative interactions.

Along the way, the three knights-errant encounter the usual animal and human hazards, including a group of cannibals. From the latter they rescue a damsel in distress, a member of a distant plains-dwelling tribe captured to be eaten. The rescuers take her back to her people, who, lo and behold, know how to create fire from scratch.

My wife thinks I'm nuts for considering this one of the cleverest movies ever made, which simply proves that not everyone possesses a discriminating taste. The script, costuming, plot, photography, acting and "dialog" are all first rate. Moreover, the close-up camera shot of the McGill character's face when he first watches fire being made is, by itself, worth the price of the video rental and the gas it took to drive to the Blockbuster.

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Quest for Fire
Ah yes, Quest for Fire. This nearly forgotten masterpiece still stands as one of the more unique films made in years. No club and lion skin parody here, director Jean-Jacques Annaud does a great job at capturing the desolation and desperation humans must have endured some 80,000 years ago. He also refuses to drown the film in FX, which no doubt would be the case had this film been made today. The plot is simple: Three warriors of a primitive tribe are sent out to find a source of fire after their old pilot lights are extinguished during an attack by a group of "Neanderthals". After numerous adventures they find a fire amongst a cannibal tribe, but also learn how to produce it when they are led to an advanced human community by a young girl whom they've saved from the cannibals. With a 12 million dollar budget combined with wonderful locations in Kenya and Scotland, Annaud has not only crafted genuine entertainment, but a thought provoking tale as well. Sure, the film may not be anthropologically correct, but the film does paint a convincing portrait of a people who must use basic wits for mere survival. This is definitely one film that needs a special edition DVD release.

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A Great Film
Rae Dawn Chong makes it a worthwhile watch. I've been in love with her since seeing the movie on HBO many years ago.

Oh yeah, the other actors are good also...