I am one of those who absolutely adore the stories of Ayla written by Jean Auel. I've read them all several times and am still waiting for the upcoming parts to the story. However, not until now have I seen this movie... and what a disappointment..
There is just too many holes in this story that there's no end to it. I mean, I understand that in -86 there was some things you couldn't make as perfect as you can in modern film - like the looks of the so called Neanderthals of this movie, or the small variations in the clan way of behaving.. But you could at least keep to the story. If you can't make a long enough movie, so you could include all the important details instead of making your own "short version", then why even bother?
I mean just for example: First of all, the way Ayla lost her family and when she saw Iza for the first time. Why change those small things? The way Creb learned her how to speak the Clan way - was it so hard to show more of that, to express how hard that was for her? The way Ayla got her totem, and when! Iza would never have asked Creb to find a totem for her, and why the long time? Uba wasn't supposed to be born! When Iza started training her to become a medicine woman.. It was way earlier in the story than that. Why Ayla decided to hunt even though it was forbidden, and why she learned to throw two stones. When Broud raped her, and why. When Ayla got pregnant, and why she wanted to keep it so badly. Why Broud separates Ayla from Durc when he gets leader.. That Ayla would use her weapon against Broud... that's insane.
And the fact that she would give birth to Durc alone in her cave is just WHAAAT?! Complete mix-up. And that Ayla and Uba would have met one of the Others in the middle of nowhere?! (Jondalar?) I mean that doesn't fit into anywhere.
It's mostly small stuff that I don't understand WHY they would change, but I could have lived with small differences as long as they could've kept to the true story and not cutting it short because of budget or whatever. The relationships between all the characters was never told the way it should, it feels like more than half of it was left out.
If i hadn't read the books beforehand I'm sure I could have appreciated it better, but this simply pisses me off.
It's a shame that such a great story never will be told the way it deserves, because of this.
There is just too many holes in this story that there's no end to it. I mean, I understand that in -86 there was some things you couldn't make as perfect as you can in modern film - like the looks of the so called Neanderthals of this movie, or the small variations in the clan way of behaving.. But you could at least keep to the story. If you can't make a long enough movie, so you could include all the important details instead of making your own "short version", then why even bother?
I mean just for example: First of all, the way Ayla lost her family and when she saw Iza for the first time. Why change those small things? The way Creb learned her how to speak the Clan way - was it so hard to show more of that, to express how hard that was for her? The way Ayla got her totem, and when! Iza would never have asked Creb to find a totem for her, and why the long time? Uba wasn't supposed to be born! When Iza started training her to become a medicine woman.. It was way earlier in the story than that. Why Ayla decided to hunt even though it was forbidden, and why she learned to throw two stones. When Broud raped her, and why. When Ayla got pregnant, and why she wanted to keep it so badly. Why Broud separates Ayla from Durc when he gets leader.. That Ayla would use her weapon against Broud... that's insane.
And the fact that she would give birth to Durc alone in her cave is just WHAAAT?! Complete mix-up. And that Ayla and Uba would have met one of the Others in the middle of nowhere?! (Jondalar?) I mean that doesn't fit into anywhere.
It's mostly small stuff that I don't understand WHY they would change, but I could have lived with small differences as long as they could've kept to the true story and not cutting it short because of budget or whatever. The relationships between all the characters was never told the way it should, it feels like more than half of it was left out.
If i hadn't read the books beforehand I'm sure I could have appreciated it better, but this simply pisses me off.
It's a shame that such a great story never will be told the way it deserves, because of this.