Ao: The Last Hunter (Ao, le dernier néandertal)

30,000 years ago,

the Neanderthals died out.

Climate change,

a drop in the birth rate, disease,

and the appearance

of homo sapiens on their vast territory

were among the causes.

Ao The Last Neanderthal

Northern Siberia 30,000 years ago

l am Ao.

l live where no-one ever comes,

on earth frozen solid as a rock

where the cold never ends.

Boorh, my friend.

We've known each other since we saw the plain in flower 1 1 times.

lt was a long journey back,

but we bring a lot of meat

to soothe my people from the cold which carries off souls.

Life returns.

Snow fell 9 times since l dreamed of hearing

a baby's cries echoing in my cave.

My clan will survive.

Little one, you hold in your sleep the future of my people.

May Nature give you life-giving force.

The beast has returned.

lt has taken another life from us.

l will hunt the beast with all my strength.

Nea has been born. l must protect her.

May my childhood necklace keep your breath alive.

Boorh knows the beast.

lt already took half of his sight.

Beast, you gave me your life.

My people will no longer be afraid.

May your soul find the land of animals.

Boorh...

May your spirit light the great plain of the dead.

Man is evil,

more terrible than the beast.

You are evil, long face!

Who restrains my hand?

My heart refuses to take another's life.

A man's life.

Nea, the breath of my life...

Your breath...

now flies through the icy plains.

My clan no longer exists.

Southern Europe 25 years earlier

Oa, my brother,

Oa, my blood.

We were born the same day, of the same mother.

The dead man is different.

He looks like those our elders saw on their travels.

Nothing is like us: the body,

even the clothes.

There were many hunters in our camp.

And the women bore many children.

But a sickness had entered our cave.

Several of us had died.

Our father was the chief, respected by all,

but his strength was abandoning him.

The great heat had returned 4 times,

and many of the tribe had died

of the same sickness.

Fewer in number, our clans exchanged weapons, food,

and children.

That day, the heart which united us was cut in two and stopped beating.

Nea...

little girl that Nature gave me,

you are in my body. You gave Oa back to me.

For you, l want to go back to my birth place

to find my lost brother,

my other half.

Hooked beak,

you're still here. l know you.

l came through here on the long walk.

Northern Europe

Big horned animals...

We'd follow you for a long time on hunts.

Your meat gives our minds your bodies' strength.

The men with painted faces are scared of me.

l don't know them.

As a young chief, l saw these slender silhouettes on the hilltops,

but never so close.

A man and a woman who look like them,

prisoners like me.

The woman is with child.

Am l a monster?

Like those beasts which only come out at night.

Why do they reject me?

l'm only different to them.

Who are you, painted face,

to take life?

You think you're stronger than Nature,

but you're less than a beast!

l know nothing as cruel.

Oa!

Oa, my brother!

l spit on their faces which spew blood !

l am one with Nature.

The trees are my light,

the animals guide me, the earth speaks to me.

l've never seen a face like his.

He's ugly, he frightens me.

His words are foreign to me.

What does he want with Wama, my baby?

Nea...

My daughter...

Nature gives me back what it took.

Wama, the fruit of my womb,

forget this creature that looks at us.