5 Stars Documentaries (027)
Walking with Cavemen (2003)
Produced by: BBC
This is the story of how a cocktail of extraordinary traits were combined to create us, human beings. Like its predecessors, Walking with Cavemen is made in the style of a wildlife documentary, featuring a voice-over narrator who describes the recreations of the prehistoric past as if they were real. As with the predecessors, this approach necessitated the presentation of speculation as if it were fact, and some of the statements made about the behavior of the creatures are more open to question than the documentary may indicate.
Each species segment takes the form of a short drama featuring a group of the particular hominid in question going about their daily lives (the search for food, protecting territory, and caring for the sick and injured). The intent is to get the human viewer to feel for the creatures being examined, almost to imagine being one of them (a trait that the documentary links to the modern human brain).
>> List of episodes:
1. FIRST ANCESTORS
It’s 3.5 million years ago and in East Africa a remarkable species of ape roams the land. Australopithecus afarensis has taken the first tentative steps towards humanity by standing and walking on two legs.
2. BLOOD BROTHERS
The Africa of two million years ago is a crossroads in human evolution. Half a dozen or more different species of ape-men exist alongside one another. Each of them has exploited the environment in a different way and has developed their own strategy for survival.
3. SAVAGE FAMILY
One and a half million years ago, a new breed of ape-man walks the land. In southern Africa, Homo ergaster has taken the next step to becoming human.
4. THE SURVIVORS
Nearly half a million years ago, the most advanced human yet roams Europe. Strong and powerful, Homo heidelbergensis are fierce hunters, use sophisticated tools and live in close-knit family groups.
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* Main review by Wikipedia. Episodes review by BBC.
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