The Cave (2019)
89%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: NA
A hard-hitting documentary with imagery as powerful as its message, The Cave poses heartbreakingly urgent questions — and leaves them for the viewer to answer.
The Cave” is a documentary that will make you feel like you’re on a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s a raw and painful portrayal of the Syrian war and the people who are fighting to survive it. The film captures the physical and psychological terror of bombings and chemical attacks, but also the hope and humanity that can be found in the midst of tragedy. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s a necessary one. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll be glad you watched it.
Production Company(ies)
Melodrama Pictures,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Romania
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for intense creature violence
Year of Release
2005
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English, Romanian
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Country of origin:United States, Denmark, Germany, Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jan 14, 2020
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, Syrian war, female doctors, PG-13, Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær, Alisar Hasan, Amani Ballour, Salim Namour, Alaa, box office, $60.9K, reviewed by John Anderson, Kevin Maher, Cath Clarke, Matt Turner, Nigel Andrews, Ela Bittencourt, Daniel Howat, Kate Robertson, Mikel Zorrilla, Robert F Worth, Leonardo Garcia Tsao, Todd Jorgenson, directed by Feras Fayyad, produced by Kirstine Barfod, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær, written by Feras Fayyad, Alisar Hasan, PG-13 rating, Arabic language, heartbreakingly urgent questions, Syrian people, chemical attack, bombings, physical and psychological terror, death defiance, humanity, tragedy, painful, necessary, beautifully captured
Worldwide gross: $33,296,457
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $50,743,245
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,319
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 5,533,615
US/Canada gross: $15,007,991
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $22,871,928
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,369
US/Canada opening weekend: $6,147,294
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $9,368,374
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 975
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $30,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $45,719,500
Production budget ranking: 863
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $24,619,951
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$19,596,205
ROI to date (est.): -28%
ROI ranking: 1,552
Salim Namour – Self
Alaa – Self
Feras Fayyad – Director, Writer
Alisar Hasan – Writer
Kirstine Barfod – Producer
Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær – Producer
Director(s)
Feras Fayyad
Writer(s)
Feras Fayyad, Alisar Hasan
Producer(s)
Kirstine Barfod, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær
Film Festivals
Toronto
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (64) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (2)
The grace of someone like Dr. Ballour and her colleagues is unquestioned, endlessly valuable and deserving of all the recognition in the world. What it is not is banal. Which is what “The Cave” comes dangerously close to making it.
January 12, 2020
John Anderson
America Magazine
TOP CRITIC
It’s still profoundly effective film-making, but feels less true.
December 9, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Like Ballour, it has a purpose: to focus the world’s attention on the suffering of Syrian people.
December 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Cath Clarke
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Manipulations in post-production slightly undermine material that is already dramatic enough.
December 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Matt Turner
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
A blistering documentary about death defiance in a war zone.
December 4, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
Acute sociological tension mingles with the physical and psychological terror of bombings and of the chemical attack.
December 3, 2019
Ela Bittencourt
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
The Cave gives a glimpse into the humanity that can be too easily overlooked. It also reminds us of the hope that they’re able to find even in the midst of tragedy. It’s painful, necessary, and beautifully captured.
May 19, 2022 | Rating: 8/10
Daniel Howat
Next Best Picture
It won’t be an easy watch, but you’ll be glad you did.
June 12, 2021
Kate Robertson
Stuff.co.nz
‘The Cave’ is not a documentary that is going to make history, but it is a crude portrait of a true story that deserved further dissemination. [Full Review in Spanish]
February 21, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/5
Mikel Zorrilla
Espinof
…raw and painful to watch, contain scenes of arresting intimacy…
February 7, 2020
Robert F. Worth
The New York Review of Books
Such is the intensity of The Cave that the dramatic music of Matthew Herbert feels unnecessary. [Full review in Spanish]
February 3, 2020
Leonardo Garcia Tsao
La Jornada
A triumph of both artistry and humanity, this powerful and topical documentary finds a harrowing new angle to the ongoing Syrian unrest.
February 1, 2020
Todd Jorgenson
Cinemalogue…
Plot
Decades after a rock church in communist Romania’s Carpathians caved when an expedition caused a landslide and buried everyone, Dr. Nicolai’s scientific team exploring the associated Templar Knights monster fighting-legend discovers a deep, flooded cave system and hires the brothers Jack and Tyler’s brilliant divers team to explore it. Another explosion traps them, after finding a mysterious parasite turning all species carnivore, and later an independently evolved predator species. Jack may be infected and turning, but Tyler sticks with him, so the group splits, hunted by the monsters, which also fly.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast of The Cave includes real-life Syrian doctors and medical workers, including Amani Ballour, Salim Namour, and Alaa.
Feras-Fayyad.jpg
