Movie Review: *10,000 BC*

Reproduced from http://www.MySpace.com/GaddyBergmann

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Review of 10,000 BC

Current mood: inquisitive

Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Last night, I saw the new film, 10,000 BC, which stars Steven Strait as D’Leh, Cliff Curtis as Tic-Tic, Camilla Belle as Evolet, Mona Hammond as Old Mother, Joel Virgel as Nakudu, and Nathanael Baring as Baku, with Omar Sharif as the narrator. It’s the story of a revolt by many small, hunter-gatherer societies against a larger, oppressive, agrarian one in Egypt.

I was very excited about this film, and on the whole, I was pleased with it. Like a lot of prehistoric, historical, and science fiction films and books, this one does take some liberties with the setting. However, 10,000 BC seems to make a more earnest attempt at telling a tale that is both believable and captivating.

First off, let’s look at what the film has going for it. The scenic landscapes in which it was filmed are gorgeous, and the costumes seem faithful to the period and quite convincing. In the plot, D’Leh leads numerous other tribes against a hypothetical proto-Egyptian city in order to liberate the slaves, including his own mate. This plot is a true underdog, David vs. Goliath type of story, which I found quite interesting and compelling. I found the characters to be likeable as well. The protagonist from the northern Yagahl tribe, D’Lae, handles his challenges gracefully. At first, his peers look down upon him as the son of a man thought to be a deserter and a coward. This understandably bothers D’Lae, but he remains true to his principles of honesty and loyalty, even passing up an opportunity for glory because it would mean lying.

There are plenty of other interesting characters, too. In the Yagahl tribe, D’Lae’s mentor, Tik-Tik, is widely respected as a great hunter, but he is soft-spoken, farsighted, and dutiful. D’Lae’s love, Evolet, is also someone to look up to. She is considered a prophetic figure because of her blue eyes, which are unique at this time, but like D’Lae and Tik-Tik, she assumes her leadership role with dignity and responsibility. Baku, a Yagahl boy, is enthusiastic, brave, and enduring.

When the Yagahl reach northern Africa, they meet the Naku tribe, and befriend their leader, Nakudu. Nakudu teams up with D’Lae and Tik-Tik, summoning warriors from around the countryside for the revolt. He guides D’Lae, who is a bit out of his element in this new land, and helps him understand local customs and myths, even translating for him so he can communicate with his new army. Nakudu forms a real bond of friendship with D’Lae, and that is always a pleasure to see.

The action in the film was also very well done. In the North, the Yagahl go on an exciting mammoth hunt, and we, the viewers, are right there with them. Seeing D’Lae confront a giant mammoth is just amazing. Then the Yagahl cross the mountains and reach the southern lowlands, where they are attacked by giant predatory, flightless birds. The creatures are never named, but they appear to be terror birds. Their dinosaur-like behavior and hunting tactics are riveting to watch.

Of course, there are also a few shortcomings to this movie. There is an awful trend spreading through Hollywood, causing producers, directors, and editors to make movies filled with blurred, short sequences and fast camera pans. This choppy-editing disease has leaped from music videos to television and film, and it not only caters to, but even perpetuates and aggravates attention deficit disorder. It also afflicts motion sickness and nausea upon millions of unsuspecting victims, including me. Luckily, 10,000 BC was able, for the most part, to buck this trend, although it did succomb in at least one area. The beautiful scenic vistas would have been far more beautiful if only the camera would have slowed down enough to let me actually enjoy them.

There were also several scientific inaccuracies. First of all, real mammoths couldn’t gallop. Mammoths were very similar to today’s African and Asiatic elephants, neither of which can run; being very large, heavy animals, they have to watch their step. What’s more, the mammoths shown in the film are too big to be the wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) of the late Pleistocene epoch. They are more like the giant steppe mammoth (M. trogontherii ), which gave rise to the wooly mammoth and was replaced by it. Another problem is the fact that the Yagahl people like to target the "lead bull" when hunting mammoth. However, both African and Asiatic elephants today are lead by cows, not bulls (bulls are either solitary or live in fluid bachelor herds), so mammoths probably lived much the same way. Finally, the proto-Egyptians use these mammoths as beasts of burden, when wooly mammoths, with their thick fur and insulating fat, would be overwhelmed by the Saharan heat. The city dwellers should have used African elephants, which used to be plentiful even in North Africa.

Second, there were no terror birds in Eurasia or Africa. The terror birds (Phorusrhacos and Titanis) lived only in South America and southern North America. Paleoindians almost certainly encountered them, but Paleoeurasians and Paleoafricans did not. In addition, the terror birds in the movie are too big. Real terror birds probably reached 9-10 feet in height, while these monsters are at least 12 feet tall. What’s more, although most of their predatory behavior is portrayed believably, one of them actually climbs a tree in pursuit of Baku, and that’s just not plausible. Real terror birds were a bit like an ostrich with the head of an eagle. Ostriches are great runners, but they can’t climb trees at all. The same should have applied to these creatures in the film.

Third, the sabertooth cat that the Yagahl and Naku people encounter is far too large. Real sabertooth cats, such as Smilodon or Homotherium, were among the largest cats known, but they were not that much bigger than today’s big cats, and about the same size as a large lion or tiger (i.e. - probably from about 500 to 700 pounds). The sabertooth in the film is bear-sized (half a ton or more), and that’s just too big. Its teeth were also too long. The longest canine teeth would have looked like that, but they belonged to Smilodon, which was a New World genus. The teeth of the Old World Homotherium were shorter.

Of course, the titular date of 10,000 BC must be taken as only a gross approximation. Although the first agricultural revolution probably happened at about that time (if not later, maybe around 8,000 BC or so), most of the charismatic megafauna shown in the film would have been gone by then. Terror birds probably died out around 15,000 years ago (13,000 BC). Some populations of sabertooth cats propably persisted as recently as 10,000 years ago, but those were in the Western Hemisphere, not in the Eastern Hemisphere. As for the mammoths, the big ones died out around 12,000 years ago, which barely overlaps with this movie’s timeline. Populations of dwarf mammoths probably survived on St. Paul Island and Wrangel Island until about 6000 BC and 2000 BC, respectively. But again, the mammoths in the film are certainly not dwarfs.

It’s interesting to think about the path of the Yagahl’s journey in 10,000 BC. They start in a mountainous, northern region and go south, crossing the mountain range. They reach a steamy, jungle-like zone, and then pass to a desert region, where they meet the Naku and their neighboring tribes. Finally, they follow a river to a city that is building pyramids. There are several clues that tell us where all this takes place.

For one thing, the Yagahl have relatively light skin. Thus, they could be proto-Indo-Europeans, and the ancestors of the Caucasians. The slaving people from the city are somewhat dark-skinned and have longer, sharper noses. Thus, they could be early Semites. The Naku and their neighbors have the darkest skin, and shorter, broader noses; they are clearly Africans. So, the Yagahl probably live in today’s southern Russia, and the mountains they traverse are probably the Caucasus. Their run-in with the terror birds is probably in an oasis in the Middle East. Then, they probably meet the Naku in Egypt, and finally follow the Nile up to present-day Cairo.

There were three prophecies to keep track of in 10,000 BC. One was the prophecy of the blue-eyed girl (Evolet). Another was that of the man who could speak with the spear-tooth (D’Lae and the sabertooth cat). The third was the proto-Egyptian prophecy of a Mark and a Hunter, which foretold D’Lae’s arrival. All three of these prophecies came true, suggesting that different cultures have different things to say about the same event. That is an interesting idea, and certainly myths, legends, and prophecies have their place in stories about nomadic or early agrarian people. Nevertheless, it seemed as though 10,000 BC relied rather heavily on these legends to motivate its characters.

All in all, 10,000 BC did not disappoint me. Despite a few factual deviations, this movie delivered a fascinating tale of adventure and love. And just as importantly, I got my prehistoric fix for big beasts and cavemen, so I was happy. If you like the prehistoric genre, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed either.

Gaddy Bergmann

http://www.GaddyBergmann.com