Looters. Speculators.
Grave robbers.
This is how Prehistorians are perceived.
"The meek shall inherit the Earth."
Not those who arrogantly seek to explain the miracle of Creation.
But our quest is for the Origins of Mankind.
Think then of the peril
should your children be exposed to their heresy.
It is imperative that we raise the standing of our infant science,
as the great Charles Darwin has done for Natural History.
Anyone who does not confess
that the world and all things in it...
are created for the glory of God:
let him be anathema,
cast out from the Church.
My name is Maria Sautuola.
When I was nine years old, my world was torn apart.
Even so, I don't regret for what we did,
for what we discover.
It all began when Papa went to Paris
to hear the greatest archaeologists of the age.
Papa was a scholar and a scientist,
but above all a fearless seeker of truth.
Don Marcelino, are we looking at our primitive ancestors?
Only a few steps from the cave.
I was trying to imagine how I would behave if my house
were on display like a zoo.
We should go.
The lecture will be packed.
We must be rigorous, methodical,
scientific in our work,
or the forces of Reaction will crush us.
Good speech, Cartailhac.
Allow me to introduce my friend, Mister Sautuola,
a keen recruit to our field.
Another Jesuit?
No, sir.
A beginner, an enthusiast without prejudice.
I'm learning so much from your journal, sir.
It's men like you we academics rely on.
The honest amateur is our foot soldier.
Only do not let his dogma infect you.
Please, its for you.
Mama, mama.
Be careful with those, Maria.
Mero!
Oh, Marcelino, is that a hat?
From Paris?
- Yes... I mean, no. - Thank you.
Forgive me, Conchita!
It's for my orchid collection and...
I shall wear it to church?
See what my husband has brought from Paris.
We are joining Cartailhac's army.
Marcelino, you've only just arrived.
Can I come? I must be old enough by now.
See how tall I am. Let's go.
No one is going hunting or joining any armies.
- What beautiful they are! - Maria, time for practice.
Maria Justina!
You practice, then we'll go.
NATURAL AND PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF MAN EMILE CARTAILHAC
And Father Tomas says I should be confirmed this Autumn
or it will be too late.
Too late! Why's that?
Because I ask too many questions.
Do I, Papa?
It's impossible to ask too many questions
as long as you pay attention to the answers.
The primitives lived over 10.000 years ago.
So by digging down, we look back
a telescope of time.
This must have been a good place. Sheltered.
Did they sleep on the mud?
And these were skilled craftsmen.
They could make what they needed.
What does it say in Genesis?
"Thou art dust and..."
"And to dust thou shalt return."
Even here, protected from the elements,
only the hardest things survive the ages:
stone, shells,
bone.
Now listen.
That muddy cave!
Prayers, Missy.
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
Amen.
- Oh, she's asleep. - No wonder. Exhausted.
I'm not asleep. Show me now!
Maria, look through this little window.
Ready?
Papa bought it in Paris.
Moving pictures.
Magical!
But how?
Twelve mirrors.
As the cylinder turns, the reflections
give the illusion of motion.
Why are there rainbows?
A prism, where the light is bent by the glass-
It wants to grow that way.
Well,
if that's what it wants,
we can move the path.
Why not?
C'mon. Come here.
Yeah, right here. Throw a line over here.
Over here.
We cannot fight nature, Mero.
To the right, to the right.
What if no one comes?
I hope no one comes.
Ah, don't say that!
I only want to look at you.
The Marquesa did promise...
No, no.
Not this time.
De Los Rios is coming.
You won't argue with him.
The Great Sage of Cantabria, wise on every subject, informed on none.
Marcelino, please. Stop! Be serious.
Not a word. Unless he says something very foolish.
Or should I say until? Yes, until.
Gentlemen, it is all ready for you. Will be just a few more minutes.
Our ancestors lived more than 10.000 years ago
in what is called the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Era.
We don't know the age of our planet or when mankind...
Nonsense. It has been calculated beyond a doubt
that the Earth is eighteen million years old.
You can read it in my writings.
Calculated, yes,
beyond a doubt, no, Señor De Los Rios
There are many who think it may be a great deal older.
And as to the Origins of Man...
Doesn't the Bible tell us what to think about Creation,
- Father Tomas? - Yes, Doña Elena.
God created the World,
but Biblical time cannot be reckoned like a calendar.
Thank you, Father Tomas.
- Time for some more music? - Some music.
Everything we learned as children is out of date.
New discoveries are being made at such a rate
it's wise to keep an open mind.
An open mind is an empty mind.
And, to quote Plato, "an empty vessel makes the most noise."
Who makes the most noise here?
Excuse me. What you said?
Dear friends, I hope you will indulge a mother.
My daughter Maria Justina,
will play Iradier's Habanera "La Paloma".
I can't bear performing children.
They're worse than trained monkeys.
Can I be sorry for my anger and still be angry?
No, you can't.
- Then I don't want to confess it. - That's naughty, Maria.
My dear, how are you?
Hello, Elena.
Take no notice of Señor De Los Rios.
I'm sure nobody else does.
What do you mean?
It's nothing.
Only he's telling everyone that his quarrel with Don Marcelino
was the highpoint of the evening.
Monsieur Ratier.
Madame, this is an honor.
Good day.
This is my husband, Don Marcelino,
and our daughter, Maria.
It's in a poor state, isn't it?
Well, yes, it is.
You are truly an artist.
The colours are most impressive.
Maria.
You want to look at the carvings?
- Good day to you, sir. - Good day.
I'll join you later.
It's so beautiful.
You know the trouble with anger?
It's a pistol that backfires.
It hurts you more than the person you aim at.
Excuse me.
May I look?
- Is it Paleo... - Paleolithic.
And it's perfect.
Making a cutting edge like this
requires of a very sophisticated technique.
Thank you.
Please, where did you find it?
Good morning.
Modesto Cubillas.
You remember, sir? I showed you the cave before.
Yes, indeed.
You found a way in...
No, it was the dog.
I'm hunting rabbits and he gets lost.
Then I search all over and then...
Woof, woof!
I pull back these brambles
and see the rocks have fallen in. I put my head in and...
"Are you there?"
Up he jumps and licks my face, sir.
Let me see this.
Want to take a look?
Pedro, Nero, come here.
Widen the entrance a little more.
I would like to get in tomorrow.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Maria, let's go.
- Bye, Maria. - Bye.
They were big animals.
The woolly mammoth was bigger than an elephant,
the aurochs, a cow like a cart horse.
Why?
It was very cold, the end of the Ice Age.
It's broken.
See how they split the bone to reach the marrow fat,
the richest part.
Where did you find it?
There.
Moving pictures!
Maria?
Maria!
Oxen, Papa, oxen!
Look, Papa.
- Dancing drawings, papa. - Let's go back. It's cold in here.
No! See? They move.
Let's see, my dear. What moves?
The stones!
What is it? The stones look like oxen?
No, look.
There are many.
It's wet.
Wet.
What is this?
It's a whole herd, Papa.
This one's standing and this one isn't finished yet.
- Who painted them, Papa? - I don't know.
Was it the primitives?
I don't know, Maria.
"Sealed up like a tomb"?
And you let our daughter go inside?
It was thousands of years ago, a landslide.
There could be another landslide at any moment.
How could you...?
Do you forget what day it is tomorrow?
Our baby's name day.
Of course I don't forget.
I know how you feel, my love,
but if we took no risks at all,
not even sensible, careful risks,
our lives would be very poor.
Maria made a real discovery today.
The wall paintings in the church are very old.
But these paintings are older, perhaps.
How old?
Ten thousand years. Maybe more.
This is even before the time of Adam and Eve. How can that be?
You truly believe your cave people could have been painters?
Whoever did this was a great artist.
As great as any in history.
Miss Maria.
Conchita, it's a miracle.
It's incredible.
If I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes...
I have to talk Professor Vilanova.
And then we should get in contact with Cartailhac.
- This discovery is worthy of his genius. - Enough!
- Yes, Cartailhac. - Maria!
My discovery is worthy of Cartailhac's genius.
What do you say to that?
Never heard of him.
Papa told you about the oxen?
Yes. And that you found them.
You're not cross with me?
Of course not, darling.
And you're not cross with Papa about Adam and Eve?
Don't worry about such things.
Go to sleep.
Paleolithic, Palaeolithic.
Will you show me your "long haired oxen", young lady?
They aren't hairy oxen, Professor,
but bison which inhabited this region during the Ice Age.
Ahah! A young archaeologist.
Look at this.
And over here.
Look at this.
Look at his head.
It looks as if it were painted yesterday.
I wonder if this dark cave may have preserved them
perfectly down the centuries.
Dating the work is problematic without geological layers.
The cave was sealed and we have found
nothing more recent than the Upper Paleolithic,
10.000 years by your calculations.
There are carvings and engravings from this period
but they're small, portable, much like the work of primitive peoples today.
Nothing like this.
We found this shell just there by the wall.
Traces of colour.
Which could be red ochre.
Yes, yes, it's quite possible.
So, Professor Vilanova, what is your opinion?
I've never seen anything like it:
I don't believe anyone has.
It simply doesn't fit our ideas of Prehistoric Man.
Perhaps all our ideas are wrong.
Gentlemen, please!
Respect for our distinguished visitor.
Some of you have yourselves seen the evidence of the cave:
a polychrome wall painting of extinct creatures
in pristine condition.
There is no other example
of such work from the Paleolithic Era anywhere.
Because they aren't Paleolithic.
Sir.
This is Paleolithic.
And... this is Paleolithic.
I have an extensive collection
which the Council is very welcome to see,
having made Prehistory my study for several years.
I realise this is a profoundly shocking discovery.
Or an absurd mistake which will make us Cantabrians
the laughing stock throughout the world.
May I ask, sir, how you would account for the paintings?
Certainly.
They are the work
of runaway slaves
when this was a Roman province
some two thousand years ago.
No doubt this beasts
were still prevalent in their barbarian homeland.
There isn't one shred of evidence to support that.
There's nothing in the cave less than ten thousand years old.
Nothing that you've presented,
but how can we be sure?
Do you think I would distort the evidence?
Sir?
Gentlemen, please! Allow the Professor to finish.
I know what we are suggesting appears extraordinary
but these are the facts.
That's monkeys with paintbrushes!
We believe that if the cave
is properly cared for,
the international experts we have invited to see the paintings
will share our view
that this discovery,
in our province,
is of enormous significance in the History of Mankind.
- Isn't that the wife? - Yes.
A good woman,
devout,
a great supporter of our church.
She must be in need of guidance.
Extraordinary.
Consider this:
a complete novice takes up the latest Paris fashion
and immediately it makes an "extraordinary" discovery on his very doorstep.
Don't you smell a fish?
Professor Vilanova is a true friend of the Church.
He exposed the wild assumptions made by the Darwinists
to support their theory.
I am surprised he should be party to such rash speculation.
Exactly.
Only a child could be taken in by such nonsense.
"Oh, my clever papa!"
Excuse me.
Father Tomas, Monsignor. I hope you don't think...
Tush, tush.
Glory, glory, my child.
You'll come to me.
Listen to this. Tablanca writes:
"Sautuola seems more interested in personal glory
than allowing proper investigation."
Who is this Tablanca?
His column is very popular.
A moral commentary on affairs of the day.
An immoral commentary. Every word is twisted.
No reply from Cartailhac.
Perhaps he disagrees with you.
No one can believe it till they see them.
You know?
I was thinking
if I sent some well-executed paintings.
My rough sketches give no idea of the colours, the artistry.
That painter you have working at the church,
what's his name again?
Paul?
Paul Ratier.
You want me to ask him?
Yes.
Monsieur Ratier.
- Madame, what a pleasure. - Good day.
How is our mother, Eve?
Very cheerful
for someone about to bring disaster on all Mankind.
Just wonder if I should lessen her smile?
It's her last moment safe in the Bliss of God.
Don't take that from her.
- I knew you would have the answer. - Are you allowed to change it?
Maria, I am sure Monsieur Ratier knows what he is doing.
No, it's a good question.
Sometimes a painting is so faded or broken
it's hard to know what was intended.
You see here, at the corner of her mouth.
Is that a curving lip or a crack in the plaster?
But you'll be changing History.
Well, improving it a little.
Did you come to see Father Tomas? I think he's in the sacristy.
No, it's you I wanted to see.
Me?
Isn't he handsome?!
Maria Justina!
It's a plain fact, Mama.
One need not be afraid of stating facts.
A lady should avoid stating facts whenever possible.
It's most unbecoming.
Did you know that earthworms can dig up to six feet underground?
Really?
That's what Mr. Darwin says.
Did your father tell you that?
Only about the earthworms.
He never tells me anything about Evolution
and those things you fight about.
Wait here.
The Bible speaks clearly about Adam and Eve.
Correct.
And who gave you your power of reason?
God.
So how could they be in conflict?
If Faith and Reason seem at odds, isn't terribly important.
Our Holy Father instructs us
that False Opinion has taken the place of True Reason.
I think of Galileo and his punishment by the Church,
which now we know to have been wrong.
Quite so,
Galileo revealed the true workings of the Divine Universe,
but for the Darwinists here is no Divine Being,
no plan for Humanity or Creation,
only the random workings of Nature,
poorly described by Science.
As we understand more,
might not they too be proved right?
This is not about the orbit of Earth and Sun,
this is Man setting his puny intellect against the majesty of God.
Rationalism...
seeks to destroy the deepest foundations of human society:
Love, Honour, Family.
What use for them in a purely rational world?
I do worry that Maria...
My husband... He takes such a part in her education...
My dear child,
I share your concerns.
Deeply.
Who made the world?
God made the world.
Who is God?
God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth
and of all things.
What is Man?
Man is a creature composed of body and soul,
made in the image of God.
Why did God make you, Maria?
God made me to know Him, to love Him
and to serve Him in this world.
And does God want you to serve Him
with half of your wits?
With one hand in the air?
No, Father.
No, He does not.
I was admiring his Creation, Father.
Did you know the very same bones we have in our hands
are in dolphins' flippers and bats' wings?
Isn't that marvellous?
- Who made the world? - God made the world.
Who is God?
That's not good.
Your wife?
She sounds good to me.
Scarlatti.
Only in times of strife.
Wagner is the worst though.
Then it's better not to be here!
Thank you for the warning.
A bowl?
A discus?
We are groping in the dark.
Paleolithic. Paleolithic.
Professor Vilanova, Monsieur Paul Ratier.
- How do you do, sir? - A great artist.
Perhaps you can persuade my wife
to come and seethe real thing.
I don't think so, no.
Please, come in.
Like this they seem random but each one is placed carefully
in exact relation to the rock formation.
What of the quality? As an artist,
what's your opinion?
To be honest,
I find them astonishing.
There is an understanding of movement, an energy,
a direct observation of Nature that seems wholly modern.
I have to rethink everything I had assumed about art.
This is quite a shock.
Hardly the work of monkeys then?
Certainly not.
Do you see, dear lady, what this means?
Ten thousand years ago
Mankind was as we are now,
created with a soul in God's image.
We have not evolved into Humanity,
we have always been so.
Do you think that the paintings might be in accord with our faith?
Faith and True Reason.
Conchita, my dear.
If we are correct,
then, the Primitive Man,
at this time had the ability to describe what he saw in paint.
That's all we know.
We shouldn't try to fit the facts to a set of beliefs.
We have to wait for Cartailhac.
If the mountain will not come to Mahomet...
With your permission
I would like to present our findings
at the International Conference of Prehistory in Lisbon
next month.
It will be easy for the delegates to come here afterwards.
- You'll do that? Really? - Of course.
- Thank you, my friend. - And you should come.
Thank you.
Conchita,
you think...
you think Religion and Science
can't coexist, right?
Right?
My love,
imagine...
imagine that I am Science
and you
are Religion.
Yes.
I don't know if that's Science,
but it is definitely not Religion.
Water is denser than air,
so as the light passes through each drop,
it bends, the colours split
and we see a rainbow.
So Noah's rainbow was only reflections, not a promise?
If we explore the mystery of Creation,
discovering how it works,
does that destroy its wonder?
You know that a piece of music is made of notes, chords,
crotchets and rests, but that doesn't stop it sounding lovely
or inspiring beautiful thoughts.
It does when I have to learn it.
- My dear. - This came by special messenger.
From Cartailhac?
Open it, Papa, open it.
Please.
It seems that...
His Majesty,
holidaying in the region,
would like to see the paintings.
- The King! Oh, Papa! - Precisely.
The King! Alfonso XII.
This are our workers.
Very good work.
Congratulations.
Beg pardon, but this is the dog that found the cave.
And I am the dog's owner.
So by rights I should get...
Please, there is nothing to worry about.
It is only a sheep dog.
A now royal sheep dog.
A dog!
Yes, it was sheer fluke this discovery.
De Los Rios, your most humble servant.
As you may know, Your Majesty,
I myself have made many important finds in the region.
Marquesa!
Sir, this is my wife, Conchita.
- Señora Sautuola. - Your Majesty.
Your husband has given Spain something to be proud of.
The whole world must know of this.
Thank you, sir.
And you must be the little bull-finder.
Bravo!
A photograph, please.
Come along.
Don Marcelino,
congratulations once again in your important discovery.
Long live to the King!
I was just thinking,
before it was our secret.
When you go to Lisbon and tell Monsieur Cartailhac
everyone will know.
But it's good to share knowledge, isn't it?
Yes.
Listen, Maria,
When I first visited the cave,
I saw nothing.
When I went back, we discovered the bison.
Now, what was the difference?
You went to Paris and learned from Monsieur Cartailhac.
No.
The difference was that you were there.
You looked without prejudice.
It will always be your discovery, Maria.
Shall we?
My lady.
Monsieur Ratier.
Monsignor.
Isn't it good?
Very good.
We made a wise choice in Monsieur Ratier.
I'm sorry you missed the King's visit.
More excitement than any of us can remember.
You enjoyed yourself, I'm glad.
But beware vainglory.
Pride, intellectual pride or...
a desire for worldly honour
is a trap
for the most pious.
Remember the Scribes and Pharisees.
Is this good enough for Lisbon next week?
Do you still need to go?
Now the King has been.
It's the largest ever conference of Prehistory.
Professor Vilanova does me great honour to invite me.
And they'll come on here?
To begin the proper work of examination, yes.
They are atheists.
It's a scientific meeting.
We don't discuss such questions.
What more can you need to know?
Everything.
How were they achieved?
Were paintings common,
but all lost or undiscovered until now?
Or is this the work of a lone genius,
the Leonardo of the Paleolithic?
The paintings are of bison,
yet we haven't found one single bison bone fragment
in the cave.
What was their purpose?
Are we looking at a history?
Celebration?
Religion?
Do you agree with Professor Vilanova?
You want to find the souls of your cavemen.
I want to understand the evidence.
You should come to church.
F sharp!
F sharp.
Pay attention.
Mama.
Monsieur Paul said I could go drawing with him.
May I?
Drawing? Yes, I suppose so.
But I don't want you in that cave anymore. Don't be long.
Yes, mama.
Do you know how to do that?
What are you doing?
We need colours to paint.
Did you know the world used to be frozen all over,
even the seas?
So I could have walked from here to America?
Skated.
Do you want to go to America?
Doesn't everyone?
Mama and Papa don't.
They have everything they want here.
Don't you?
Me encanta tener una guía tan experta como tú, pero...
I hope I'm not taking you from your lessons.
Papa thinks the best way to learn is by doing.
He's right.
He's a very wise man, you know?
Was your father a painter?
And his father too.
Perhaps your great great great great great great grandfather
was a cave painter?
I never thought about that.
I like the idea.
Let's make a cave painting.
The cave master must have planned it very well.
I can't.
Of course you can.
Painting is looking. That is all.
You know? You'll always be the girl
who discovered the oldest paintings in the world.
Not many people do anything in their whole life that comes close to that.
Let alone at nine years old.
Is it true? Tell me.
Yes.
Try it.
This is too much.
I'll give you some.
It's late.
I must go home.
Hide your hands.
Good evening, sir.
What a face!
I would like to paint him.
He's a horrid old cave bear!
- Oh, no! - What?
Wagner.
Thank you.
Maria! Maria!
Bravo!
Au revoir.
That's what I have been told.
That your husband does not believe in the Bible.
That he's using the paintings to harm the Church.
He would never...
He doesn't think like that, Elena.
I'm just telling you
so it doesn't catch you unaware.
Father Tomas.
I am glad you are here, my child.
I am always here, Father.
You have been working for him in that cave.
Don't deny it.
The Monsignor has a special message from the Bishop,
in the light of all the recent...
disturbance.
Your husband is coming?
He's preparing his findings to present to the world's experts.
For the greater glory of God.
Beware those who fall into the Abyss
of materialism and atheism.
They labour to destroy the deepest foundations
of human society.
They call the Divine Scripture "mythology".
They deny the Virgin Birth.
They attack the Holy Family.
Think then of the peril
should your children be exposed to their heresy.
These are grave and bitter evils.
Anyone who does not confess
that the world and all things in it
are created for the glory of God,
let him be anathema,
cast out from the Church.
I'm going to the cave.
The primitives didn't have an easy life.
No one has an easy life, Maria.
Visitors.
We were expecting you.
Edouard Harlé,
at your service.
Sautuola.
You have come on behalf of Monsieur Cartailhac?
Oh, yes.
You are very welcome. Very welcome indeed.
You are on the way to Lisbon, to the conference.
That's the one.
Ratier.
Please, won't you come in?
It will give me great pleasure to show you the cave.
I would prefer to see for myself,
if you permit.
As you wish, yes.
Yes, please.
You're gonna need this.
Of course.
Look at the depth of colour,
the definition.
There is no sign of weathering.
The paint is actually fresh!
Half an hour.
What are they doing there?
That's good, a deer.
Whoever did paint this he has quite a talent.
- Ratier. - But those tiny legs...
He has the proportion all wrong.
It is all too evident he has never seen an aurochs.
It's not an aurochs. It's a bison!
- Damn child again. - Who is she?
What are you doing in here?
You are spying. Out! Go on!
Get out!
What are you doing here?
- This is my cave. - Get out!
Go on!
Typical crackpot nonsense,
allowing a childplay in here.
This child made the discovery.
Whereas you, sir,
no one invited you here.
So take your malicious opinion and get out.
Out!
He's a liar. And the other one is an idiot who knows nothing!
Enough.
This is a very important visit
and it must be conducted in a scientific manner.
Sir, please.
But they don't understand-
Ratier, please take her outside.
- Please, come. - They don't.
Come with me. Come.
Shut up!
The rest of the cave. Sir, please.
Were have you been?
Maria, darling, are you alright?
Papa!
The air in that cave is bad.
- It's an evil place. - There are other cases in town.
- They haven't been in the cave. - Everyone's been in that hateful cave.
See what you've done,
digging up things best left alone!
Best left alone. Why?
So that we can continue in ignorance and error?
You have no respect for the way things are.
No. If they're wrong, no.
You're so arrogant.
You think anyone who disagrees with you is a fool.
- No. But this blinkered dogmatic view... - Dogmatic?
You've lost your Faith and you want to take mine.
It has nothing to do with Faith, only logic.
If your Faith gives you comfort...
Don't treat me like a child.
Do you think it's easy to believe?
To believe in a loving
all-powerful deity
who want only destroys his Creation. No, I don't think it's easy.
You hate God for taking our babies.
I didn't say that, don't twist my words.
You should not have care of a child.
It's not me that fills her head with Sin and Hell.
I won't listen to this.
Because you have no arguments on your side, my dear.
Please stop. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
It's alright, It's alright.
Go. Go back to your cave.
Professor.
Marcelino.
It isn't better to reveal them in your lecture?
I am told there is some resistance.
The very idea of paintings of this age is difficult to grasp.
It's going to be a sensation.
Esteemed colleagues.
So many distinguished experts.
Perhaps we in Spain can't claim the...
eminence of France
but the good Lord has seen fit to bless us with a miraculous discovery.
From this day we must begin again,
to construct a new history of Mankind.
This discovery is a profound challenge to my own beliefs.
But it is not for me to tell you about our findings.
You don't know him yet,
but I am sure he will soon be a famous name around the world
Gentlemen, Don Marcelino Sautuola.
Marcelino, come!
Thank you, Professor Vilanova.
I...
Gentlemen,
this is a very great honour, indeed.
I'm only a foot soldier
but here I am,
addressing the generals!
It seems quite plausible to suggest
that these remarkable paintings,
which mainly represent animals not seen in the region
since the last Ice Age,
these masterpieces
date from the same period.
Thank you.
I take my hat off to you, Professor Vilanova.
You have astonished us.
I do not blame Monsieur Sautuola, a mere amateur,
for his failure to understand the basic principles of our science.
We do not expect miracles,
those went out with the Enlightenment.
We have now a very complete record of Prehistoric Man.
I must inform you, sir,
that this record does not include any evidence of wall painting,
not even a stick man.
That's why we urge you to visit the cave.
We were as amazed as you.
It is quite impossible that primitive man,
with his rudimentary brain,
could create such elaborate works.
Do you deny Evolution, sir?
Indeed not.
But if there is evidence...
Show me this evidence that sweeps aside the whole of Prehistory
as we, poor fools, understand it.
That's what we're trying to do.
It's all there, in the cave.
But... Hold on.
This.
You will see the same animal
in the same style
on a small stone
found on the site.
We are not discussing portable works
but a vast fresco painted by a Paleolithic Michelangelo
or perhaps a tribe of Michelangelos.
You don't want to admit evidence that challenges your beautiful theory,
but that is not good Science, sir.
This is a very serious matter.
Monsieur Harlé has examined the paintings
and they are nothing more than crude forgeries.
- What? - C'est un scandal!
Monsieur Harlé reports
that the paintings could not have been made without artificial light
and yet there are no soot marks on the ceiling
as would be inevitable with primitive torches.
Furthermore, in ancient rock paintings, the pigment sinks into the stone,
but here it's on the surface and quite fresh.
In places the pigment has even been laid on top of a layer of calcite.
But in other places it is beneath the calcite...
Evidence!
Here is the evidence. Found at the site.
Fresh paint!
What is this?
Please, this is not the case.
I agree the freshness of the paintings is surprising
but when you consider that the cave was closed
for thousands of years, possibly...
A painter was seen painting in the Altamira cave.
Do you deny it? Do you deny it?
I don't know what you are saying, sir.
Sir, you can't close your eyes.
It's against Science, against Truth,
Monsieur Cartailhac,
this could be the greatest discovery of our age!
Won't you even look, sir?
I know what I would find, sir.
You are a forger.
You should be ashamed.
Papa?
I deeply regret any trouble I caused, sir.
Your concern comes too late.
The damage is done.
You left a trail like a murderer's bloody footprints!
They were technical studies. I never thought they would twist it.
It's as if you worked for them, you made it so easy to prove their case.
Every other objection we could have answered...
Except the light.
The light.
I don't understand why there are no soot marks.
I was trying to follow your own method and experiment, that's all.
I can only say I'm sorry. What else can I do?
Nothing, nothing.
You've already done more than enough.
What are you doing? No.
Please!
Stop it, stop it!
He only did as you asked.
Don't shoot your anger at him. I made us paint there,
I upset that horrid cave bear.
I found the bison. It's all my fault.
You hate him because he loves Mama.
Maria!
Go to your room.
Go to your room, now!
I hate it, I hate your cave.
I wish I'd never seen it.
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.
Maria!
I am so sorry.
Madame, I have met forgers
and those who commission forgeries in my line of work, it's inevitable.
I know you wouldn't...
Yes, but a forgery is always an expected piece,
one of a series or like existing works.
So that the market will want it.
But no one would ever fake
something so original,
so unlikely
as the bison of Altamira.
Thank you, Paul.
You are a good man.
He is a good man.
A visionary.
This kind of man always attract the envy of little man.
I've written to Ratier
to apologise.
I must apologise to you.
I spoke to Monsignor of my fears for Maria.
You're right.
I never meant you're not fit to be a father.
I shouldn't be near her.
I am a fool.
Or worse, a liar.
In all these years I have known you
I have never heard you say one word that you knew to be untrue.
Please, Conchita...
Why would you choose to start now?
To make a name for myself.
Make fools of other Prehistorians.
To garner glory for Spain.
Spain.
Beautiful and...
so unfair.
To pretend an important discovery
could be made by a mere Spaniard.
None of those could possibly be your motive.
Conchita, I believed in Science
with a dogmatic Faith,
forgetting it is made by men
in their own image.
I risked everything I hold dear
for nothing.
Forgive me.
- Where are we going? - Confession.
Did you just sin?
To the church, please.
Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
It is two days since my last confession.
Since then I've discovered your treachery, Father.
Or should I say "Señor Tablanca"?
Shame on you.
How dare you come here and accuse me?
You accepted my confidences
and then used them against my husband,
that's treachery...
We did not speak under the seal of the confessional.
Oh, you and your rules!
To twist my words,
to accuse him of "perverting a child's mind."
What does your husband do but stir upon thinking minds
to doubt the teachings of the Church?
His cave obscures the pure light of Divine Reason
with muddy accident.
I read your articles, Monsignor Tablanca.
I don't care to hear them repeated, however nice your phrasing.
My duty is to protect the Faith of the Church.
My duty is to my husband, who hasn't one deceitful bone in.
You place your husband before God?!
Not before God, before you.
It's time to make your confession, my child,
before you sink deeper in error.
Confess to you, Monsignor?
And read my sins in tomorrow's paper?
Mama, have you got the fever?
No, quite cool.
Not a word to papa.
Carried out by a mere amateur,
this research may yet help men of Science
tear aside the veil of ignorance
and prove beyond doubt
that these paintings are of truly ancient origin.
What is that?
Marrow fat.
Makes the best lamp oil.
Why?
Clear and steady. And no soot marks.
Why no soot marks?
It's a good question.
A very good question, indeed.
Excuse me, Pasi. May I borrow that for a moment?
Maria.
A lamp?
This is Science.
An idea.
An experiment.
A proof.
Do you see how beautiful that is?
Yes, Papa.
If you're a good scientist,
no one can ever take the truth from you.
Amen to that.
Now you can tell Monsieur Cartailhac he's wrong.
He must apologise.
It won't be enough.
He accused you, in public.
No, he has all the more to lose.
It's not so easy to change direction when you're set on a course.
I know.
Think of the garden.
If branches grow across our path,
we just have to move the path.
Marcelino,
will you... will you take me to the cave?
You never told me the artists were women.
Close you eyes.
Are you ready?
Open you eyes.
Have you decided what to say?
I always admired his attention to detail,
rare in an amateur.
Will he demand a public apology?
He has never written to complain in public.
Then your reputation will be safe, professeur.
Here we are.
Let humility be your watchguard.
Emilio.
Mama.
Mesdames,
I am the Abbé Breuil.
This is Monsieur Émile Cartailhac.
Dear Ladies.
Monsieur.
You are just as I always imagined.
We have waited too long.
Indeed.
I should have come long ago.
Señor Sautuola will have heard of the cave paintings
discovered in the Dordogne this last year.
There is no doubt of their antiquity,
since they were covered by layers of earth
more than ten thousand years old.
And this is what brings you to our door.
Twenty years after you ruined my husband's good name.
I sincerely wish to make amends
for any injustice I did him.
May I apologize in person?
Papa.
He is here.
Cartailhac.
You cannot tell my husband, Monsieur.
You can tell the world.
Please, Mero.
After you, gentlemen.
"After Altamira all is decadence. We have invented nothing" - Pablo Picasso
Modern techniques date the paintings up to 35,000 years ago,
even older than Marcelino Sautuola imagined.
In the years that followed the discovery,
my father and all our family endured great sadness
as humiliation and public rejection
followed the injustice of accusations of forgery.
My father died in 1889.
Thirteen years later, in 1902,
after the discovery of several caves in France,
Émile Cartailhac visited Altamira
and published his famous apology: "Mea Culpa d'un Sceptique",
recognizing his errors, the honesty of Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola
and the authenticity and age of the paintings.
His honor was finally restored.
Dedicated to the memory of D. Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola
and his great-grandson, Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y Ríos,
who shared his passion for the arts and education,
his curious mind and deep intuition.
In loving memory of Jose Antonio Lasheras for a life dedicated to Altamira.