Ao: The Last Hunter
Ao: The Last Hunter (French: Ao, le dernier Néandertal) is a 2010 French prehistoric paleoanthropological fiction film directed by Jacques Malaterre, and is loosely based on the first novel of the trilogy Aô, l'homme ancien by Marc Klapczynski.[2][3]
| Ao: The Last Hunter | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| French | Ao, le dernier Néandertal |
| Directed by | Jacques Malaterre |
| Produced by | Yves Marmion Patrick Sandrin |
| Written by | Michel Fessler Philippe Isard Jacques Malaterre Pierre Pelot |
| Based on | Ao, l'homme ancien: L'Odyssée du dernier Neandertal by Marc Klapczynski |
| Starring | Simon Paul Sutton Aruna Shields Craig Morris Vesela Kazakova Sara Malaterre Helmi Dridi Ilian Ivanov Yavor Vesselinov |
| Music by | Armand Amar |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | Invented languages |
| Budget | $13.4 million |
| Box office | $1.7 million[1] |
Plot
The film takes place approximately 30,000 years BP, and focuses on the period of co-existence between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, where the two populations shared some parts of the Eurasian landscape.
The film begins in Northern Siberia with two Neanderthals; Aō (Simon Paul Sutton) and Boorh (Craig Morris) delivering food to their clan after hunting herbivores (likely elk). Once they reach their cave, they realize that Ao's wife is in the midst of giving birth to their daughter, whom Ao names Néā. One day, after returning from a polar bear hunt, Ao finds that his clan, including his wife and her young Néa, were massacred in their cave (for a reason which shall go unknown) by the anatomically modern humans that had arrived on the landscape.
With his clan dead, Ao decided to leave his outpost in the frigid, barren tundra in Siberia, to reunite with his brother Oā in the South where he was born. In the course of his travel Ao is captured by a band of modern humans. Here he encounters a pregnant Homo Sapiens woman from a different tribe, named Āki (Aruna Shields). Aki's husband, Āka, is executed (or sacrificed) by the headman Agūk (Helmi Dridi). After witnessing Aka's murder, Ao decides to escape with the help of a wasp's nest he found on a tree within his enemies' campsite. Covering himself with mud after breaking from his bonds, he knocks off the wasp's nest to let the angry swarm distract his enemies long enough for him to escape. Unbeknownst to him, Aki followed him quietly until he fell asleep in a cave. Ao wakes up after hearing strange sounds. Afraid that it might be his pursuers, he put out his campfire and went to investigate. He discovers that it was Aki moaning and screaming in a secluded part of the cave as she was giving birth to her daughter Wāmā. Witnessing this, Ao believes that the newborn infant is the reincarnation of his deceased daughter, Néa. As Aki observes Ao's interest in her daughter, and does not understand why due to the language barrier, she grows wary of Ao.
After defeating the marauding Cro-Magnon warriors, Ao finally finds his birthplace. However, he soon learns that his twin brother Oa, along with his entire clan have already been consumed by an illness that had entered their cave. Ao is, at least symbolically, the sole survivor of the Neanderthalers. Ostracized by other tribes, Ao and Aki reach southern Iberia to settle and raise a family in solitude, close to the last known signs of Neanderthal life on Earth. In the final scene, Aki is shown to be heavily pregnant with Ao's child, Wama's half-sibling.
Filming
The movie was filmed on multiple locations in Europe; France (including Murat-le-Quaire, Calanque de Sugiton, Vercors, Camargue, and Font d'Urle), Bulgaria (notably the Prohodna Cave), and Ukraine.
Cast
- Simon Paul Sutton as Ao, the main protagonist of the film. He is the chieftain of a small Neanderthal clan in Northern Siberia. After his clan was exterminated by early-modern humans, Ao embarks on a journey to find his native tribe in southern Europe, and his twin brother Oa, from whom he was separated when he was eleven.
- Aruna Shields as Aki, the second protagonist who dominates the plot. She is a female Homo sapiens who is captured by the same tribe of modern humans who imprisoned Ao. She proved to be an independent female character in the movie time and again.
- Helmi Dridi as Aguk, the main antagonist of the film. He is the headman of a tribe of early-modern humans.
- Craig Morris as Boorh, Ao's friend and a member of his clan.
- Vesela Kazakova as Unak, Ao's wife.
- Yavor Vesselinov as Aka, Aki's husband.
- Sara Malaterre as the four year old Wama, the daughter of Aki and her late husband. She became Ao's stepdaughter after her mother and him decided to become a couple nearing the end of the movie.
References
- http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=11312
- Klapczynski, M. (2010). Ao, l'homme ancien: L'odyssée du dernier neandertal. Paris: Aubéron.
- "AO Le dernier Néandertal". AO Le dernier Néandertal. Retrieved 28 September 2019.