The Film Society of Lincoln Center however, is taking a breather by hosting a mini-retro of the early films of Werner Herzog: Parables of Folly and Madness. It is a rare opportunity to watch the prolific German filmmaker's 8 earlier films all in stunning 35mm. These timeless parables showcase Herzog's consistent, singular view on human existence. The retrospective includes Herzog's much celebrated collaborations with Klaus Kinski (Aguirre, Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo and Woyzeck), and Bruno S. (Enigma of Caspar Hauser, Stroszek).
For this piece I decided to present his lesser known, seldom seen films -- Signs of Life (1968), Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) and Heart of Glass (1976). As I revisit these films, I am astounded by how each of his films is completely unique and original. Also, I can't think of any other filmmaker whose filmmaking process becomes as much a part of the whole film viewing experience than Herzog. It's those crazy on-set anecdotes and crazier methods he applied in each film you've read about and seen and countless other 'Herzog myths' over the years that make you appreciate his films more.
Werner Herzog: Parables of Folly and Madness runs August 16-22. For dates and tickets please visit FSLC website.
Look at this sexy man!
It's quite obvious from the beginning that Herzog was interested in portraying madness in his work. Signs of Life, Herzog's debut film, concerns Stroszek (not the one with Bruno S.), a German soldier stationed in Greece in WWII slowly losing his marbles.
After being wounded, Stroszek (Peter Bogle) gets sent to do a cushy job guarding a remote, old fortress in the island of Kos with 2 other soldiers - buffoonish Meinard and bookish Becker. He even marries Nora, a local girl who nurses him back to health. It's an idyllic life: actually quite boring and monotonous. The soldiers soon run out of things to do. The first indication of uneasiness comes in the forms of a local muslim man explaining what's written on the various ancient stones that litter the island. It's a record of banal deaths of thieves on the island: stealing things and getting hanged with their dogs.
Stroszek becomes more and more withdrawn. He has a mental breakdown when he sees the field of man-made metal windmills while patrolling the rocky hills. Unlike Herzog's more accomplished later films in which the 'Man vs Nature' theme is more spelled out, Signs of Life is more enigmatic yet not any less potent. The narration at the end obliquely explains that Stroszek failed what he tried to achieve just like many others. And we are left to guess what it all means. The film deals with the banality of human life, difficulty in understanding one another and the futility of war. Being holed up in the fortress alone and threatening to blow up the armory if anyone approaches, Stroszek's mental state gets displayed in literal fireworks at night. And it's beautiful.
Even Dwarfs Started Small is perhaps the oddest duck in the Herzog filmography. He has said this film came to him like a nightmare. Indeed, it's a series of random episodes with the cast entirely composed of little people. The parable shows what would happen when there is no order after a social revolt. The human beings, in Herzog's mind, are destructive by nature when given total freedom.
It's pure anarchy surfaces as the dwarfs take over an white walled institution in a remote, volcanic island. They engage in a food fight, torture various animals and set plants on fire. It's absurd, hilarious and disturbing at the same time.
What is crazier: a film about a whole town going mad or a filmmaker hypnotizing all the actors to get a certain mood out of it? Herzog did the latter with one of his least seen masterpieces, Heart of Glass. In the heart of the majestic Barbarian mountains, a town is thrown to chaos because their glassmaker died, taking the secret of the much prized 'ruby glass' to the grave. Everyone, from the town's master, owner of the glass factory and his son to workers and farmers, is somehow completely dependent of this one industry. After many failures to duplicate ruby glass everyone sheepishly, subtly go mad collectively, just as Hias the oracle (Joseph Bierbichler)'s predicted.
(Non) actors who are hypnotized look and act like they are lobotomized zombies, moving slowly and uttering their fed lines in monotone. Their glazed eyes are either rolled back or staring nowhere, as if their souls have been sucked out. Herzog's mission therefore, is accomplished!
Accompanied by Caspar von Fredrich inspired visuals of nature and men and Popul Vuh's soundtrack, Heart of Glass is even more hypnotic than usual Herzog in many different ways. His commentary on industrialization, Fascism, losing soul in the modern world are painted with his usual bold style and he does it like no other. Its tacked on operatic ending at sea -- concerning the futility of man, at first feels like it comes out of nowhere, doesn't seem too far fetched when you digest the film as a whole. It's a truly majestic film and the one that needs to be seen on the big screen.