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Cave of Forgotten Dreams poster

Movies that feel likeCave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.

If you loved Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the closest films we have are Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), Grizzly Man (2005) and Into the Abyss (2011). All three share Cave of Forgotten Dreams' contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Dog (2013).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Werner Herzogcontemplative
9 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Fandor · OVID

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If Cave of Forgotten Dreams hit the spot, these will too

Little Dieter Needs to Fly poster
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
1997 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 93%★ 8documentaryPrime Video

Both are Werner Herzog's work, and they rhyme

Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.

Grizzly Man poster
Grizzly Man
2005 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 93%★ 7.8documentary

Werner Herzog working the same nerve twice

Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Into the Abyss poster
Into the Abyss
2011 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 92%★ 7.3documentary · crime

Contemplative documentary, and it commits to that

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Cave of Forgotten Dreams does

We do not know when and how we will die. Death Row inmates do. Werner Herzog embarks on a dialogue with Death Row inmates, asks questions about life and death and looks deep into these individuals, their stories, their crimes.

Marwencol poster
Marwencol
2010 · dir. Jeff Malmberg
🍅 98%★ 7.5documentary

Documentary built on stillness, twice over

After a vicious attack leaves him brain-damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in "Marwencol", a 1/6th scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard.

Nostalgia for the Light poster
Nostalgia for the Light
2010 · dir. Patricio Guzmán
🍅 100%★ 7.6documentary

Documentary with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

In Chile's Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet's regime.

Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles poster
🍅 65%★ 7.2documentary

Both working the same documentary territory

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

An urban mystery unfurls as one man pieces together the surreal meaning of hundreds of cryptic tiled messages that have been appearing in city streets across the U.S. and South America.

Kumaré poster
Kumaré
2012 · dir. Vikram Gandhi
🍅 60%★ 7.5documentary

Cut from the same documentary cloth

A documentary about a man who impersonates a wise Indian Guru and builds a following in Arizona. At the height of his popularity, the Guru Kumaré must reveal his true identity to his disciples and unveil his greatest teaching of all.

We Live in Public poster
We Live in Public
2009 · dir. Ondi Timoner
🍅 80%★ 7.1documentary

Both play documentary straight

In 1999, Internet entrepreneur Josh Harris recruits dozens of young men and women who agree to live in underground apartments for weeks at a time while their every movement is broadcast online. Soon, Harris and his girlfriend embark on their own subterranean adventure, with cameras streaming live footage of their meals, arguments, bedroom activities, and bathroom habits. This documentary explores the role of technology in our lives, as it charts the fragile nature of dot-com economy.

Tabloid poster
Tabloid
2011 · dir. Errol Morris
🍅 92%★ 7documentary

Both know what they want from documentary

One of America's top documentary filmmakers turns his attention to the outrageous and nearly unbelievable story of Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming beauty queen who gained a great deal of notoriety after being accused of kidnapping a young Mormon missionary, restraining him in chains and raping him in 1977 England. The unbalanced McKinney is extensively interviewed, particularly about her ambition to write a memoir telling her side of the tale.

The Overnighters poster
The Overnighters
2014 · dir. Jesse Moss
🍅 97%★ 7.4drama · documentary

Documentary in the same key

Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.

The Dog poster
The Dog
2013 · dir. François Keraudren
🍅 93%★ 6.7documentary

The same documentary instincts

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York's gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

Riding Giants poster
Riding Giants
2004 · dir. Stacy Peralta
🍅 93%★ 7.8documentary

Documentary approached the same way

Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.

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The best-reviewed films that share Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ defining feeling.