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Ao: The Last Hunter (French: Ao, le dernier Néandertal) is a French prehistoric epic directed by Jacques Malaterre and loosely based on the novel trilogy Aô, l'homme ancien by Marc Klapczynski.

Ao, a neanderthal, loses his clan to an enemy raid and sets out to find his long lost brother in a journey that takes him across Pleistocene Europe. On his journey, he encounters another type of human (Homo sapiens sapiens) and befriends a woman named Aki and her baby Wama.

Provides Examples Of:

  • Attempted Rape: It's not treated like rape in the setting due to Deliberate Values Dissonance but Ao tries to "unite his body" with Aki's against her will. She later does consent to sex with him though.
  • Babies Ever After: In the epilogue, Ao and Aki are raising Wama/Nea together and Aki is pregnant with Ao's child.
  • Bears Are Bad News: At the beginning of the film, Ao kills a polar bear after it killed two members of his clan.
  • Bee-Bee Gun: Ao weaponizes a beehive against Aguk and his men.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Ao kidnaps Aki's baby because he believes her to be a reincarnation of his own child who was killed. Aki still ends up mating with him after this rocky start.
  • Caught in the Rain: A variation: a rain storm coincides with the first time Ao and Aki have sex but they skip the finding shelter part and get it on right there in the mud.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Wama is an odd case. Ao sees her as his own deceased daughter Nea reborn and calls her accordingly, to the dismay of Aki, who quite justifiedly disapproves of him claiming her daughter. Finally, Ao has a Heel Realization moment and stops acting this way, but then again Aki accepts the new name and Ao as her daughter's father.
  • Death of a Child: The catalyst of the story is the murder of Ao's entire tribe, including his newborn baby daughter.
  • Family Theme Naming: Ao and his brother Oa.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Ao is one with nature and can communicate with animals, even animals he's hunting.
  • Groin Attack: Ao grabs one of Aguk's men by the genitals during a fight.
  • Humans Are Bastards: A recurring theme. To Ao, man is far more evil and cruel than any beast.
  • Human Sacrifice: Aguk sacrifices Aki's original mate.
  • Interspecies Romance: Ao and Aki, if you consider neanderthals a separate species from Homo sapiens.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: Aki is a beautiful woman who is unburdened by taboos about nudity.
  • Last of His Kind: Ao is implied to be the last neanderthal after his clan is killed and his brother's, his birth clan, is found to be no better.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: A bald eagle is very out of place in Pleistocene Europe. American bison are too but they are likely stand-ins for the extinct Eurasian steppe bison.
  • Please Wake Up: Ao desperately tries to feed healing herbs to a very dead neanderthal.
  • National Geographic Nudity: Casually topless women are shown throughout and Aki has a couple fully nude scenes.
  • Nature Tinkling: Obviously enforced by the setting but given some focus when Aki squats to urinate in a cave early on.
  • Screaming Birth: Aki gives birth screaming and naked in a cave.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: After all that journey, Ao discovers his brother is dead and he has no place to return to — but ultimately, he and Aki just settle down happily on their own.

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