Living with Fire
" The time to prepare is not when your house is burning " A 1981 classic B-movie (available on Prime and YouTube) was Quest for Fire. Plot: A Cro-Magnon clan led by Ron Perlman depends on a carefully tended source of fire, stored in a lamp, which accidentally extinguishes, throwing the clan into existential panic. Lacking the knowledge to kindle a new fire, they send three tribesmen to search for another source and bring it home. The hunters encounter a Homo sapiens woman, Rae Dawn Chong, who teaches them not only how to make fire but also the Kama Sutra, winning her a Genie for best actress. 20th Century Fox pitched it as a sort of “2001: A Space Odyssey” minus the apes and spaceships. Even without Kubrick, Quest won a dozen awards, including an Oscar and a BAFTA for best makeup, but perhaps most remarkable was the absence of dialogue. The whole film was just grunts. Fast forward a half dozen ice ages and we no longer have a problem finding fire. Lately...
