“I would travel down to Hell and wrestle a film away from the devil if it was necessary.” -- Werner Herzog
After spending most of this year immersing myself obsessively in the work of German filmmaker Werner Herzog, I found myself wanting to run down the stairs out of my apartment and onto the street shouting “Her-zog! Herzog!!” in the crazed state of a lunatic. Hence this impassioned post that Coop has generously pro-vided an outlet for. If you will indulge me with a bad analogy, Herzog’s best films are like drinking a sweet wine that settles in slowly and then somewhere down the line you find yourself completely intoxicated.
More experiential that mere ‘viewing’, Herzog’s instincts as a filmmaker are sublime. The power of his im-ages is so moving that so often I find myself wanting to burst into tears for an unknowable reason. His films seem to bypass the intellect and hit you straight in the guts. They have a transcendent quality to them that’s not ‘artsy-fartsy’ or sentimental, but rather, Herzog is a very ‘meat and potatoes’ type of filmmaker and al-though you can feel him behind the scenes pulling the strings, it’s more in the fashion a master craftsman of some forgotten time.
Werner Herzog shot by a sniper mid-interview
“Film is not analysis, it is the agitation of mind; cinema comes from the country fair and the circus, not from art and academicism”. -- Werner Herzog
Rather than concerning ourselves here with the mere ‘facts’ of Herzog’s life, which can be easily found, I’d rather get straight to the good stuff: the work.
Since his first film in 1962 (the short “Herakles”), Herzog has produced a stunning amount of work, closing in on almost 50 films, including both features and ‘documentaries’, where he is constantly blurring the line be-tween fiction and fact. Read a few interviews with him and you’ll find Herzog constantly talking about his work aiming for not truth, as in facts, but an ‘ecstatic truth’. In his infamous ‘Minnesota Declaration’ of 1999, Herzog states “By dint of declaration the so-called Cinema Verité is devoid of verité. It reaches a merely su-perficial truth, the truth of accountants. There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagi-nation and stylization.” And it is this very thing that makes particularly his ‘documentary’ works truly compel-ling. Herzog is the rebellious anti-intellectual dreamer with a masterful knowledge and ability to make truly ecstatic cinema.
Herzog is probably most well-known for his collaborations with the actor Klaus Kinski and while these films are fantastic (especially “Aguirre, The Wrath Of God”, “Fitzcarraldo” and ‘Woyzeck”) it is his non-Kinski work that really gets to me personally and although there are so many truly great ones, I have highlighted but a few of my favorites for you below.
Heart of Glass
In this 1976 feature, Herzog famously hypnotized the entire cast before every scene, which makes for one of the most haunting and strange movies you’re likely to see. Herzog’s cinematographer Jorg Schmidt-Reitwein also ensures that it is one of the most beautiful. Watching this film you can easily spot its influence on doz-ens of filmmakers that have since come after.
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Lessons of Darkness
Herzog’s 1992 ‘documentary’ floored me the first time I saw it. I was glued to the screen, riveted. Shot in the burning oil fields in the aftermath of the early 90’s Gulf War, Herzog turns the film into a compelling science-fiction drama that’ll kill ya.
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The Great Ecstasy Of The Woodcarver Steiner
Like many of Herzog’s films this 1973 ‘documentary’ is concerned with the notion of flying. Maybe that fact that when Herzog was a boy he wanted to be a ski flyer has something to do with it? In any case, this film (centered around the champion Swiss ski jumper Walter Steiner) is especially transcendent and lyrical.
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Land of Silence and Darkness
Herzog has said about his 1971 ‘documentary’ centered around the deaf and blind Fini Straubinger, “Of all my films, this is the one I want to be available to audiences the most”. And for good reason. It is a monumentally powerful and striking piece of cinema.
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Stroszek
Starring the incomparable Bruno S. as the film’s hero and namesake, Herzog’s 1976 feature is definitely one of his best ‘non-documentaries’. It also has one of the most hilarious endings of any movie I’ve ever seen.
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Kaspar Hauser
Made in 1974, ‘Kaspar Hauser’ (another feature) again stars Bruno S. in the lead role, this time playing a 17 year old young man who shows up in a town square (seemingly out of nowhere) with no history.
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Bells from the Deep
Herzog’s 1993 exploration of faith and superstition in Russia. Rather than running the risk of repeating myself, yet again, let me just say that it’s another fantastic movie and leave it at that.
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Grizzly Man
Most discerning film-goers have probably seen this one by now, but on the off-chance you haven’t, you really should. Aside from all the hype and accolades this film has received since its release last year, ‘Grizzly Man’ is a seriously great film.
All in all, talking (or in this case writing) about Werner Herzog’s work seems especially difficult and perhaps even futile. The films really need to be seen to be understood. So it is for this reason that I urge anyone un-familiar with Herzog’s work to track down every film they can find, and then we should all get down on our knees and thank the fucking lord above that such a filmmaker exists and that he has been so prolific.
“We comprehend... that nuclear power is a real danger for mankind, that over-crowding of the planet is the greatest danger of all. We have understood that the destruction of the en-vironment is another enormous danger. But I truly believe that the lack of adequate im-agery is a danger of the same magnitude. It is as serious a defect as being without mem-ory. What have we done to our images? What have we done to our embarrassed land-scapes? I have said this before and will repeat it again as long as I am able to talk: if we do not develop adequate images we will die out like dinosaurs.” -- Werner Herzog
Les Blank's 'Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe'
Useful links for those interested:
Book: ‘Herzog On Herzog’ (2002 Faber & Faber, edited by Paul Cronin) 300 pages of pure Herzogian good-ness for the kiddies. Here.
DVD Boxsets: There are 3 must-own box sets that have been released over the last few years and all are unbelievably great.
1. Werner Herzog Collection Boxset
2. Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski: A Film Legacy Boxset
3. And the newly released, totally freakin’ awesome ‘Werner Herzog: Documentaries and Shorts’ (available from www.wernerherzog.com and other places).
Website: The official site
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p.s. Hey. I decided to call back this enthused spotlight on Herzog by Kiddiepunk from the cemetery of my hacked, dead blog for reasons that I think will be obvious, and it's your viewfinder for today. Please enjoy, talk Herzog to Mr. K and/or whatever else to yourselves and me, and thanks to all of you and to Kiddiepunk especially. I'm on that train to Brest I mentioned yesterday, so no back to your forth from me today, but I'll see you in the usual way again tomorrow. Have good days, and see you then.
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