En Busca Del Fuego

There are basically two ways to regard QUEST FOR FIRE. The movie is either (a) the moving story of how scattered tribes of very early men developed some of the traits that made them human, or (b) alaughable caveman picture in which a lot of lantern-jawed actors jump around in animal skins, snarling and swinging clubs at one another. During the movie's opening scenes, I found myself seeing it inthe second way, as a borderline comedy. But then these characters and their quest began to grow on me, and by the time the movie was over I cared very much about how their lives would turn out.
Otherviewers report some of the same confusion. The movie has been compared with such varied works of art as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and ALLEY OOP. The question, I suppose, is whether you can make your ownleap of imagination into the world of the movie--whether you're willing to identify with these beetle-browed ancestors who made more important discoveries, in their way, than all of the Nobellaureates put together. I found I wasn't willing, and I was a little surprised at how much affection the movie generated.
QUEST FOR FIRE was shot on rugged locations in Canada and Scotland and takes place atthe dawn of man. It introduces us to a tribe of primitive men who guard their most precious possession, which is fire. They know how to tend it and how to use it, but not how to make it. And after ajealous tribe of less-advanced creatures attacks them and destroys their fire, three men set out on an odyssey to seek another tribe that possesses fire and to steal it from them. Along the way, thereare terrifying adventures. A saber-toothed tiger chases the men up into a tree and keeps them there for days. On another occasion, the heroes are trapped between an unfriendly tribe of apes and aherd of mastodons. In each situation, the men realize that simply running away won't work; they can't run fast or far enough. And so they slowly and painfully figure out a solution to their dilemma....