10,000 BC

Hard to say how accurate the makers of a film like this might be trying to be, at least in a historical sense.

Since this is obviously not a documentary, many "liberties" are taken with historical truth.

For example, eighteen foot long sabre tooth tigers didn't exist in this era - nor did mastodons - at least not in the areas depicted (Mesopotamia, northeast Africa.

) Also, early in the picture we see extraordinary changes in environment(s) after relatively short travelfrom snowy, mountainous areas, where no one ever shows any evidence of steam emanating from mouths or noses; suddenly to tropical areas, and then, just as suddenly to desert lands, which later in the film, characters refer to as places which would take a very, very long time to traverse; but in fact the tribe which has just done this appears quite fit, and with not much wear and tear to their clothing.

The terror birds that attacked in the forest lived in South America not Europe, Asia, or Africa.

(Regardless, they died out at least one million years ago, and were not extant in 10,000 BC.

) Not since 'Raquel Welch' (qv) was battling the dinosaurs in _One Million Years B.

(1966)_ (qv) were so many anachronistic errors squeezed into one prehistoric-era film(a) Metalworking - first copper, then bronze, then iron - was mastered around 5500 BC; (b) Exploitation of horses for human transportation started approximately 4000 BC; (c) The earliest pyramid was erected in Egypt circa 2630 BC; and (d) Mammoths had never been domesticated as pack animals.

On the other hand, a lack of discovered evidence for (a) and (b) from earlier eras does not eliminate the possibility that such skills were once known (and lost); it does however render their appearance in the film as purely speculative.

Regarding (c), the film does not show the Giza pyramids as being completed, which may be an effort to satisfy both those who believe the Giza pyramids are relatively recent, and those who believe the Giza pyramids are substantially older.

Chili peppers and corn are from the American Hemisphere, and were not brought grown in the "Old World" until after 1500.

To sail southward on the Nile, sails have to be up to catch the prevailing winds, unlike in the movie where the sails are up and they are going northward.

To truly go northward, sails would have to be down to avoid the wind and to let the current move the boats northward.

When the leader of the African tribe is telling D'Leh about how his family was taken away, he calls out to his tribesman and you can clearly see a metal molar in his mouth.

The film is renowned for having an actress with prominent blue eyes in a main role, but the genetic mutation for blue eyes from the standard brown occurred only 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, again out of the film's time frame.

When D'leh is talking to the Egyptian "god", he walks up to the army of Egyptians.

He walks to within arms length of them, but in the next shot, he's several paces back.

The Mammoths are depicted as galloping in several passages.

Mammoths were closely related to modern elephants and could not possibly gallop given their physiology.

At best they could move at a fast trot as elephants do.

References are made to the "lead bull" of the mammoth herds.

Modern day elephants as well as ancient mammoths and mastodons are and were headed by a matriarchal female (lead cow).

Bulls never lead the herd.

The tropical forest is too close to the snowy mountains, without any transition between them.

The tribes are seen sleeping barely clothed in the desert during night-time.

The temperature differences between day and night are known to be enormous in the desert, because the heat cannot be held in, as it is in more temperate climates, due to cloud formations and humidity for instance.

The mammoth hunters appear to live in Northern Europe, yet cross the Sahara to get to the Nile.

Also, there is no evidence of woolly mammoths from Africa.

Several times during the movie, the stars in the night sky are shown, clearly with constellations of today.

Due to astronomical movement, the constellations would be different even 500 years ago, even more so 12,000 years ago, which is the time period of this movie.

In the final scene, the water in the background is not moving.

This very recent epic, released just this year and set in a prehistoric time, certainly hasn't been the most well received in its genre. I've hardly seen any films on the big screen this year at all, and "10,000 BC" was no exception.

Okay, I think it's official: director Roland Emmerich has finally hit rock-bottom. After the highly successful STARGATE, it seemed Emmerich could do no wrong.

I really had to laugh at the negative vibes coming out of some of the comments...sure, huge maneating dodo birds are way out there, and semi-intelligent saber tooth tigers to, but the wooley mamoths are cool, even if the weird religious cult uses them for draft animals...

I love this movie. No it is not really as good as True Grit or I Remember Mamma, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself this evening.

There are some silly comments here - criticising it for having the tribe speak English for example. Well what language would you like them to speak?

I don't know from where to start actually, since nothing seems to pull off in this movie. The first letdown is the casting..

So much BS in this movie I don't know where to begin! Hollow performances, idiotic concept.

What a task it must have been to write about events which might have taken place so long ago. Personally I would not know where to start.

A severely under appreciated film, this is one of those films that is actually nowhere near as bad as people would make you think. True it does slow down in some parts but the fantastic special effects, unique narrative and amazing locations make this a great film.