Talk:Alpha (2018 film)

Language of the film

@TropicAces: I changed the language in the infobox from "Extinct language" to "a fictional language" [1]. Probably we should also look at the infobox of Quest for Fire (film) and make sure they are consistent. In principle we should have a section of the article that discusses the language, but I haven't been able to find any good sources. Who constructed it: was it the film's writer, Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, or did they bring on a linguist to construct the language and translate the script into it. Presumably that information will emerge when the filmmakers do interviews or publicity. The vocabulary does seem, from what I could tell, similar to a romance language; for example "my friend" is something like "cara mi". AVclub.com describes the language as "Ancient Latin" [2], and I found two reviews that use the term Proto-Indo-European in reference to the language of the film [3][4] but these are clearly the reviewer's supposition/assumption, not something confirmed by the filmmakers. Mathew5000 (talk) 19:45, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

@TropicAces: To answer my own question from two years ago, the language of the film was designed by anthropology professor Christine Schreyer (CESchreyer) [5][6][7][8][9][10] based on Proto-Nostratic, Proto-Eurasiatic, and Proto-Dené–Caucasian. According to a Canadian Press article, the name of the language is Beama [11][12]. However, in the Netflix closed-captioning, the name of the language is referred to as Solutrean. Mathew5000 (talk) 03:09, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

Mathew5000 haha glad we got to the bottom of it after all this time! TropicAces (talk) 03:18, 5 August 2020 (UTC)tropicAces

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, haven't been signed in to Wikipedia in awhile and hadn't been looking at the Alpha page. Thanks for adding the language info in. CESchreyer (talk) 21:36, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Should also add that the language was called Solutrean originally (as was the film) but changed as the language developed. CESchreyer (talk) 21:37, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Morgan Freeman's presence in the film

I just saw the film yesterday. Morgan Freeman did not provide narration; there wasn't any narration in the first place. Freeman appears to be billed on the film, but most definitely doesn't appear. Should this be mentioned in the article?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 15:00, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

@Orannis: I've noticed that reviews of Alpha which mention Morgan Freeman are from the UK or Ireland (e.g. [13] [14]). On Reddit, someone said that Freeman's bookend narration was heard in the film as screened in Mexico City [15]. But in the film as screened in the US and Canada, there is no narration; just an intertitle at the start saying "EUROPE, 20,000 YEARS AGO". This is clear from the American reviews that do not mention Morgan Freeman (e.g. [16] [17]). I saw an advance screening of the film when it was theatrically released, and I had another look now that it's on Netflix [18]. (In the Netflix version, there is no narration by Freeman, I double-checked that he is not mentioned in the onscreen credits either.) I wonder who decided that Morgan Freeman's narration should be included in the UK but not the US. And which version does the director, Albert Hughes, prefer? Mathew5000 (talk) 01:47, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

Untitled

Why is an unknown person editing this movie, changing the source movie. Stop this bad editing. Sapian sam. Sapian sam (talk) 04:38, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Dire wolf?

The canines in the film could not have been dire wolves, as they apparently only existed in the Americas. The film clearly states at the beginning that it is set in Europe, 20,000 years ago. I'm am going to change this to "wolf" for all references. --82.2.5.153 (talk) 01:59, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

Replaced all references to "dire wolf" with "wolf". The movie clearly states the story plays out in Europe, 20,000 years ago. The dire wolf was unique to the Americas. This is also in agreement with recent research. - Ygdrassil, May 11, 2019