🎬 #128 Double Herzog.
Werner Herzog is a special, multifaceted filmmaker who tackles a wide range of topics in a wide range of formats in his very own Herzog way. The two films this week are two of his documentaries - one of which might even better be defined as an art installation.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD
2016 Dir Werner Herzog
1 hr 38 mins
This is a look into how technology in the broadest sense has impacted our lives. If the modern period of man’s effect on the development of planet earth is called the Anthroprocene - you might describe this film as a look into the Technoprocene. From the monks pictured, Herzog, who’s off camera voice guides the various people interviewed, takes us on a journey to disparate groups to try to interrogate the profound changes in our lives defined by the tech world.
From professors and scientists who were there at the dawn of the internet, to people addicted to computer games, to those who have a rare condition that means that electro-magnetic radiation causes them pain - we get a wide angle view of the often unseen consequences and benefits of our increasing reliance on connected technologies.
Perhaps one of his more traditional approaches to a subject, Lo and Behold is still a great watch and it’s also one of my favourite titles of any film. A very Herzogian title.
TL;DR: Herzog’s look at our complex relationship with technology is an enjoyable, enlightening experience.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and the UK.
Fact: Herzog wanted to interview Tim Berners-Lee for the project but the father of the internet was unavailable.
FILM TWO: FATA MORGANA
1971 Dir Werner Herzog
1 hrs 19 mins
If Lo and Behold was ‘straight-forward’ Fata Morgana is anything but. Very abstract, it can loosely be described as a visual diary of the desert and the people who inhabit the region. It’s beautiful to look upon, mad and wild - just like the location it observes. It’s a bit like a moving painting - giving us a view into this region that we’d rarely see.
It’s poetic both visually and in terms of audio - with an abstract creation myth spoken over the images - while some sequences are accompanied by Leonard Cohen songs. It might belong loosely in the category of films like Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi or Sans Soleil - all of which it pre-dates. This is an observation of a place in time - but Herzog’s vision is more specific than those other films, choosing instead to focus on this one region. A portrait of the cast of characters who call it home. It’s kind of indefinable, one you have to sit back and enjoy to get any kind of grasp on.
TL;DR: Herzog’s poem to the desert is a dream-like vision of a documentary - as mysterious as the mirage it’s named after.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US, and on BFI Player in the UK.
Fact: The film is still unrated for viewers, probably due to the fact that a lot of summaries refer to it as ‘footage’ rather than a film.