One of the world's greatest works of art

Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" is definitely a pleasure to watch and to ponder and my only regret was that I was unable to see it in 3-D - it's a documentary about cave paintings discovered in France in the mid-90s and the subject of intense study by teams of archaeologists and others, but not open to the public and rarely seen under any conditions till now (the more famous cave paintings are also closed to the public at present) - I'd always "pictured" the cave paintings as done on a flat surface but as Cave makes clear they are on curved and textured surfaces of a limestone cave, and the artists used the full spatial environment to create these works. One of the "rooms" in the cave, containing many extraordinary drawings of horses, seemingly in motion, is described rightly as one of the world's greatest works of art. These drawings were done about 32,000 years ago - but the style is so deft and sophisticated and sensuous - it's hard to believe they're not hoaxes (tests have proven they're legit). Who were these artists, and why did they make these drawings - and what did our ancestors do in these caves, over thousands of years? Were they shrines? Did they realize how extraordinary these works were and would be, then and in the future? In all of the work, in 1300 feet of cave space, only one depiction of a human being - why did they draw only animals? Nobody can definitively answer these questions, but it's almost a religious experience to examine these drawings, and Herzog rightly lets his camera linger slowly over each image.