The film is gorgeous and is faithful in its location shoots. The actors are fantastic, particularly Banderas as Sanz de Sautuola, and I enjoyed the music.
Unfortunately however, the writers decided they wanted to take cheap-shots at religious people, by making his wife Conchita the stooge of a nefarious priest (is there any other kind in Hollywood?). She's upset because neolithic art of still extant Pleistocene mammals, is somehow anti-creationist (Yeah, I didn't get it either).
In real life Conchita had no problems with the Altamira cave art and supported her husband.
The actual controversy at the time was that the paint looked too fresh, and there wasn't any soot marks from torches. Many people initially suspected the images were forgeries because of those reasons, not because pictures of bison, horses and wild boar somehow frighten creationists.
It's too bad they stooped to defaming Conchita for the sake of unnecessary drama and cheap demagoguery. It knocks three stars off my review.
Unfortunately however, the writers decided they wanted to take cheap-shots at religious people, by making his wife Conchita the stooge of a nefarious priest (is there any other kind in Hollywood?). She's upset because neolithic art of still extant Pleistocene mammals, is somehow anti-creationist (Yeah, I didn't get it either).
In real life Conchita had no problems with the Altamira cave art and supported her husband.
The actual controversy at the time was that the paint looked too fresh, and there wasn't any soot marks from torches. Many people initially suspected the images were forgeries because of those reasons, not because pictures of bison, horses and wild boar somehow frighten creationists.
It's too bad they stooped to defaming Conchita for the sake of unnecessary drama and cheap demagoguery. It knocks three stars off my review.