Werner Herzog Overdrive

I came to Werner Herzog a bit backwards. I knew a little about him and his films in a vague sort of way but had never seen anything he had done until I watched Grizzly Man. The story about a manic, passionate and slightly crazy man who lives with bears in Alaska only to end up being mauled to death by one captivated me as did Herzog’s hypnotic narration. Soon after, I checked out My Best Fiend, the incredible documentary about Herzog’s insane relationship with renowned madman Klaus Kinski. I decided then and there to watch all of his films since these two were so brilliant but somehow I still have not gone back through his catalogue to watch classics like Aguirre, Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo. Instead I’ve been watching his recent works with the intention of eventually making my way back through time. In the past few months I’ve seen three more of his documentaries and one film and they were all fascinating glimpses into the limits of human will and the bizarre ways in which man and nature interact.

What I like about Werner Herzog is that he seems interested in just about everything on the planet and finds most of things that go on here strange and worthy of closer inspection. His semi-detached, clinical viewpoint of human behavior and rituals allows for a unique examination of his subjects whether he’s filming a documentary or a feature film.

He also does away with the idea of an impartial observer by adding his own thoughts and ideas about the subjects he’s presenting. There is no façade of objectiveness. He is a biased participant in the proceedings and his films are all the better for it since his philosophies and thoughts are so unique and contribute so vitally to the strength of his work. One of my favorite parts in the stellar Encounters at the End of the World is when he first arrives at the Antarctic town housing the subjects of his film and in the middle of his typically laconic narration he bitterly rants about how shocked and disgusted he was by the noise and ugliness he found there. It makes the film so much more personal and more like an essay instead of a piece of even-handed journalism.

This documentary blew me away. I give it a 10 for overall awesomeness. It is a magical film filled with amazing scenes and wonderful weirdness such as snow blindness practice, creaking ice making glorious sounds, underwater beauty, mysterious animals and the odd discovery of an underground shrine to a frozen fish.

It's a lovely examination of the question "Who are the people who end of at the bottom of the world and why do they go there?" Humans are so weird and few are as odd as the subject of The White Diamond, Herzog’s documentary about a man obsessed with flying a man made balloon over the rainforest. It’s almost impossible to describe this film but it’s basically about the single minded desire to achieve goals and fulfill dreams no matter how unrealistic or seemingly fated for failure.

I give this an 8. It was a little more scattered than End of the World and I didn’t care for the subject matter as much but there are still scenes from it that will be burned in my brain forever like the glass of champagne floating over the waterfall and the balloon man's assistant waxing poetic about his beloved chicken, Red.

Another amazing document about the extreme limits of devotion and passion is The Wheel of Time, Herzog’s account of the Buddhist pilgrimage to Bhod Gaya. I know very little about Buddhist tenets or rituals so it was interesting to see the creation of the sand mandala, the scores of votive candles, the prayer ceremonies and the various monks arguing about the nature of reality. It was also fun to see the Dalai Lama answering Herzog’s questions. He seems like a scrappy guy with a good sense of humor and not as imposing or austere as someone in his position might be. At one point he basically gives credence to the notion of thinking of yourself as the center of the universe and is able to make it seem like it’s not simply a self-centered belief but a reasonable way of living.

This was the only one of Herzog’s films where I didn’t completely feel his stamp of authorship. In a way, this documentary could have been made by anyone as it is more straightforward than the rest. It is beautifully shot and fascinating to watch but there was less of his personality in it. Also, the subject matter didn’t touch me as personally as the rest so I give it a 5.

I don’t think I could commit myself so fully to anything and I definitely don’t have it in me to walk in prostration for 3,000 miles like one of the monks did. To hear it took him 3 ½ years to get to Bhod Gaya, in the processing forming nodes on his bones and developing an open wound on his forehead from where he touched the ground millions of times, stunned me into silence.

The sight of Christian Bale eating live maggots in Rescue Dawn nearly stunned me into vomiting. That man has a devotion to his craft rarely met by other actors. After seeing him waste away in The Machinist and then eat such grossness in this movie, I fear for his sanity.

He’s a perfect actor for Herzog – totally committed and a tad insane. Even though Rescue Dawn was a feature film (based on Herzog’s previous documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly) it still explores many of the same themes as the other three films mentioned above. It didn’t affect me as deeply as the documentaries (it was kind of a standard prison break film) but was entertaining nonetheless.

Standard? There was nothing standard about this. It was gritty and dirty and captured a unique story from the overplundered Vietnam War storybook. Plus, who knew Steve Zahn was such a badass? I give it a 9 because it was well shot, well acted and made me proud to be an American. Plus, Christian Bale ate maggots. U! S! A! U! S! A!